FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jennifer Duran, Branch Manager, Rincon Valley Library.
jduran@sonoma.lib.ca.us, (707) 537-0162.
March 4, 2015
It’s Not Your Everyday Book Club -- Sonoma County Library Hosts BOOK-TO-ACTION Program
This spring, the Sonoma County Library will host a new kind of book club through BOOK-TO-ACTION, a
grant-funded project that encourages communities to read a book together, and then put newfound
knowledge into action by engaging in a community service project related to the book’s topic.
“The first step in moving forward with this project was choosing the right book,” says Jennifer Duran,
Branch Manager at the Rincon Valley Library. “A Dog’s Purpose, by author W. Bruce Cameron was
recommended to me. When I read the book, I knew without a shadow of doubt that this would be a
great choice to bring us together as a community.”
Duran was further buoyed after taking an inventory of local non-profit organizations linked with canine
assistance. “I was blown away by how lucky we are in our community to have so many organizations—
right here in Sonoma County—training dogs to work directly with people with a variety of physical,
emotional and social needs.” Duran, along with Rachel Icaza, Teen Services Librarian at the Central
Library, contacted many of these organizations—including Canine Companions for Independence, 4Paws
Learning and Wellness Centers, and Sonoma Humane Society –to enlist their participation as community
service partners on the project.
Icaza is collaborating with Stony Point Academy Charter School to further bring the project out into the
community. All 7th and 8th grade students and their teachers at the school will read A Dog’s Purpose,
and will discuss the book with Icaza in early April. Students will further expand the community
engagement by touring the Canine Companions for Independence National Headquarters located in
Santa Rosa, and through meeting a service dog and the dog’s disabled handler. “The kids are really
excited to read this book and meet an actual service dog team,” says Ms. Icaza.
The community service project that takes this book to action will be a clean-up project at the dog park at
Doyle Community Park in Santa Rosa, in collaboration with the Recreation & Parks Department. “This
will not merely be cleaning up after dogs,” says Ms. Duran “but cleaning up for them—weeding,
spreading woodchips and sprucing up the dog play area, all for the love of dogs and their affection
toward and caretaking of us.”
Event dates and times:
 Pick up a free copy of A Dog’s Purpose at the Central Library and the Rincon Valley Library
beginning Thursday, March 12.
 Attend a book discussion group on Wednesday, April 15, 6:30 pm at Rincon Valley Library or
Saturday, April 18, 1:00 pm at Central Library.
 Meet the Author, Bruce Cameron, live at the Central Library book discussion group on Saturday,
April 18, 1:00 pm.
 Meet and volunteer at Doyle Community Park on Saturday, May 2, 9:00-noon.
About BOOK-TO-ACTION (http://www.library.ca.gov/lds/getinvolved/booktoaction/)
BOOK-TO-ACTION is supported in whole or in part by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services
under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State
Librarian.
About the Sonoma County Library (http://sonomalibrary.org)
Sonoma County Library serves the county’s 500,000 residents across 13 branches, services,
and online programs. The mission of the Library is to organize and provide access to
information and universal knowledge, protect intellectual freedom, and promote the value and
joy of reading in order to enrich the lives of the people of our community.