Library Updates From California
Irvine, San Diego, and Huntington Beach News
Infophilia, a Positive Psychology of Information | February 24, 2025 | Vol. 3, Issue 9
✨Welcome to Infophilia, a weekly letter exploring how our love of information and connections can help us all thrive, individually and collectively. 🤗
Cite as: Coleman, Anita S. (2025, February 24). Library updates from California: Irvine, San Diego, and Huntington Beach news Infophilia, a positive psychology of information, 3 (9).
Corrections
Corrected with above newsletter intro and citation: 02/24/2025
Irvine Libraries
The City of Irvine is continuing its series of community meetings about the transition of its three library facilities from the Orange County Public Library (OCPL) system to a new city-operated Irvine public library system. This change aims to provide more tailored services for Irvine's growing community, as the city's libraries are among the most heavily used in Orange County. Moving from a county-wide system that serves many cities to local management will allow for programs and resources better aligned with Irvine residents' needs.
Upcoming information sessions:
Monday, February 24, 6-6:45 p.m. at the Portola Springs Community Center
Tuesday, March 4, 6-6:45 p.m. at the Las Lomas Community Center
The first information meeting was on January 30, 2025; the same information will be presented at the February and March meetings. For more details, please visit the Irvine Libraries webpage: cityofirvine.org/community-services-department/irvine-libraries where you can also sign up to get updates.
Government Information Resources from UCSD
The University of California San Diego's Key Issues website offers valuable resources that extend beyond its campus community. Federal Updates, managed by the UC Office of the President, provide comprehensive government news from Washington, D.C., including weekly updates, an executive order tracker, analysis, and myth-busting factsheets. https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/federal-updates
UCSD also maintains a LibGuide on U.S. Government Information, curated by librarian Kelly L. Smith. A LibGuide is a research guide designed to help users navigate and access reliable information on a given topic. This guide serves as a gateway to authoritative government data and websites. To help manage political information overload, its Weekly RoundUp delivers a curated selection of significant government publications from the previous week. Readers can subscribe to receive it by email. Visit: https://ucsd.libguides.com/WeeklyRoundupArchive/02082025
Huntington Beach Library’s 50th Anniversary
The Huntington Beach (HB) Central Library's new 50th anniversary plaque is becoming the center of a public debate. The plaque features an acrostic with the words Magical, Alluring, Galvanizing, Adventurous. The city commission voted unanimously to accept the design despite protests that the acronym MAGA is referencing the political slogan "Make America Great Again."
The issue gained national attention when former NFL player Chris Kluwe (Minnesota Vikings) was arrested at a recent city council meeting while protesting the plaque. During the meeting, Kluwe spoke against the plaque's placement in the library as “propaganda.” After approaching the council bench in what he described as an act of "peaceful civil disobedience," Chris was arrested and charged with disturbing an assembly. He was detained for four hours before being cited and released.
The incident has intensified ongoing discussions about political messaging in public spaces, following earlier debates about the HB library's children’s book collection policies. Kluwe has said that his protest aimed to highlight the significance of the issue and how to protest peacefully rather than change the minds of the council members. You can read more on: KTLA News, here; LA Times, here; Orange County Register; Yahoo News, here; Washington Post, here.