For Immediate Release: April 13, 2006

Asian Branch Library 30th Anniversary Gala Celebration
& Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2006

(Oakland, CA) The Asian Branch of the Oakland Public Library will celebrate 30 years of serving the public with a series of exciting cultural events and art activities in May, which also is Asian Pacific Heritage Month. Everyone is invited to enjoy live Chinese opera, martial arts, hip-hop and other dance performances, origami workshops and much more. A full listing of special events is below. The official Anniversary Ceremony will take place Saturday, May 13 at noon.

The busiest of the 15 branch libraries of the Oakland Public Library system, Asian Branch was founded in 1975 as part of a Federal Library Services Construction Act grant with a mission to become a model library serving the Asian community in Oakland with multilingual staff and collections. Originally located on Park Boulevard, it was moved in 1978 to the Main Library in downtown Oakland and again in 1981, to Ninth Street at Broadway. The current location at the Pacific Renaissance Plaza in Oakland’s Chinatown district (at 388 Ninth Street) opened to the public in 1995.

The Asian Branch Library provides quality services to the diverse peoples who live in Oakland as well as other parts of Bay Area. It houses 74,000 books, CDs, videos, DVDs, VCDs, magazines and newspapers in eight Asian languages for all different age groups. Additionally, it has two unique English collections on Asian Studies and Asian Americans, and the very popular young adult manga collection is also uniquely Asian in scope.

Saturday, May 13: Official 30 th Anniversary Ceremony, Performances, and Origami

All are welcome to celebrate 30 years of the Asian Branch, (388 Ninth Street). The Saturday, May 13th programs start at noon with our Anniversary Ceremony, including live demonstrations of Korean drums, martial arts, Asian dances and the lion dance. At 2 pm, a free origami workshop will begin, and don’t miss Tiger Hip Hop/Motion dance, a combination of modern dance, hip-hop, martial arts, and tai chi, that will be performed starting at 3:30 pm.

Other Free Anniversary/Heritage Month Programs:

Cantonese Opera Vignette performed in partial costume by local artists. Live music by Music Orient with erhu, yangqin, dizi, and percussion. Performed in Chinese with English captions. Saturday, May 27, 5:30 to 6:30 pm.

Origami Workshops conducted byKorean-born artist Won-ju Hulse, whose works are on display this month (see next item below). Workshops are recommended for ages 8 and up. Saturday, May 6 and Saturday, May 13, 2 pm.

Playful and Reflective: Painting with Origami An art exhibition of works inspired by nature and dreams by Korean-born artist Wonju-Hulse who now resides in Oakland. On Display at Asian Branch, March 20 to May 31, 2006.

Japanese Doll-Making Exhibit Sadako Delcollo, a kimekom doll artist will exhibit works from Mataro Miyabikai of San Francisco-East Bay, an organization of instructors and students who make kimekom dolls. On Display at Asian Branch during May 2006.

Painting Demonstration Coming in June, Doris Chen, a Berkeley artist and teacher whose young students frequently exhibit works at the Asian Branch, will do a painting demonstration with four of her students from the Channing Art Studio. (Date to be announced)

Sponsors for the Anniversary events include Friends of Asian Library, Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Japanese American Citizens League (Berkeley chapter) and Eastwind Books & Arts, Inc. All events will be held at Asian Branch Library, 388 Ninth Street. For more information, call (510) 238-3400, or see the Library's Web site: www.oaklandlibrary.org. Please refrain from wearing scented products. To request sign interpretation, or other accommodation, call the number above or (510) 834-7446 (TTY) at least five working days prior to the event. The Oakland Public Library is a department of the City of Oakland.

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