They are in! Get your copy of the November/December On the Same Page selection now!

We just received our copies of Model Home, the November/December On the Same Page book club selection, today so get them right now without a wait!

Model Home by Eric Puchner is tender and funny portrait of an unraveling family from the award-winning and critically acclaimed author of Music Through the Floor.

The New York Times Book Review says this about the novel: "Puchner is a tender, humane observer of family life, and his lithe prose deepens our understanding of his characters . . . the writing is attuned and specific . . . the image of the Zillers as the sole survivors of a disaster is affecting, and subtly suggests our contemporary situation." (full review)

Not sure what On the Same Page is? Click here for more information about the club, more reviews of Model Home, read-alikes and a list of past selections.

Change of Date! Excelsior Branch Youth Chess Club Tournament on Saturday, December 17, 1-3pm (check-in 12:45pm)

Please note that the date for this event has changed. the Excelsior Branch Youth Chess Club Tournament will take place on Saturday, December 17, not December 10 as originally announced.
All level of chess players are welcome. Play, learn and meet new friends!
Two sections: Open and Beginner

Awards: Medals, chess set, chess pins to all new participants who complete all their rounds.

Space is limited. Please register by Wednesday, December 7 for a guaranteed spot. To register, please email Vincent Ng (Tournament Director) at ngvincep@yahoo.com, with participating youth's full name, school/chess club, age, grade, and with parent/guardian's name & phone number. Subject line: Excelsior Library Tournament.

This tournament is hosted by the Bright Knights Chess Club.

For chess lessons: The Excelsior Branch offers a free chess program every Saturday from 1-3pm.

Thanksgiving Holiday Library Closures



San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection
Reproduced with the permission of the
San Francisco History Center, SFPL.

 Please note that Excelsior Branch and all San Francisco Public Libraries will be CLOSED starting at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 23 and all day Thursday, November 24 and Friday, November 25, 2011 for Thanksgiving. We will resume our regular opening hours on Saturday, November 26, 2011. Happy Thanksgiving!

請大家注意:十一月二十三日(星期三)提前於下午五時休息, 二十四日(星期四)及二十五日(星期五)為"感恩節假日"全部舊金山市立圖書館休息兩天。圖書館在十一月二十六日（星期六）恢復正常開放時間。祝大家感恩節快樂!

Las bibliotecas públicas de San Francisco cerrarán a las 5 p.m. el miércoles, 23 de noviembre y estarán cerradas el jueves 24 y el viernes 25 de noviembre del 2011 en celebración del Día de Acción de Gracias. Vamos a continuar nuestro horario habitual el Sábado, 26 de noviembre 2011. Feliz Día de Acción de Gracias!

Stories from the Road - Bonda Lewis presents Sara Bard Field on Wednesday, November 16, 7-9pm

The Excelsior Arts & Culture Salon presents Bonda Lewis performing her one-woman show as Sara Bard Field.

Addressing a suffrage meeting, Sara Bard Field tells stories of her eighty-eight day cross-country automobile trip in 1915, carrying a petition to Congress for the immediate adoption of the Susan B Anthony amendment giving the right to vote to all women of the United States. Sara and two other feminists departed from the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco with 500,000 signatures of California women, who had already won the vote in 1911, and enfranchised women from 11  other western states. In the months prior to this journey, the National Women’s Party had maintained a booth in the Education building to collect the signatures. To help reach the goal of universal suffrage, the three women endured the rough drive to Washington, D.C., on the brand-new Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental road in the U.S., a road that was mostly unpaved, largely unmarked, and always without the amenities of rest stops or motels.

Please join actor Bonda Lewis for the live performance and a question-and-answer session to follow.

San Francisco Public Library Free Day at the Contemporary Jewish Museum, Sunday, November 13, 11am-5pm

Take opportunity of this free event for all San Francisco Public Library card holders at the Contemporary Jewish Museum.

Just present your San Francisco Public Library Card for free entry. In addition to the current exhibitions including Houdini: Art and Magic, enjoy a full day of magical and mysterious story-telling from San Francisco’s very own children’s librarians, hands-on art-making, a story-telling session with local author Lewis Buzbee, and performances by Brian Scott, master magician and mind reader.

Library closed on Friday, November 11, for Veterans' Day

Excelsior Branch and all other San Francisco Public Libraries will be closed on Friday, November 11, for Veteran's Day.

十一月十一日(星期五)為"退伍軍人節" 全部舊金山市立圖書館休息一天.

Las bibliotecas públicas de San Francisco estarán cerradas el viernes 11 de noviembre del 2011 Día de los Veteranos.

First Monday Movies @ Excelsior on November 7, 6:30-8:30

The movie for this month's Monday Movies @ Excelsior is Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman (1946/101 mins).

Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman), daughter of a Nazi spy convicted of treason against the US, meets a dashing stranger named Devlin (Cary Grant). It turns out Devlin works for the intelligence community and he wants to recruit her to infiltrate a cadre of Nazis living in Brazil. Despite the fact that Alicia and Devlin have fallen in love, Alicia realizes the only way to discover what the Nazis are plotting is to marry into the inner circle – a man who has been unsuccessfully courting her for years, Alexander Sebastian (Claude Rains).