The Los Altos Library hosted a program Tuesday evening that taught participants how to make jewelry out of old and damaged books.
Beyond being a fun community activity, organizer and librarian Laura Pasternack said that the event promotes literacy.
“You can pick up a book that maybe you read as a child, or want to read as an adult … and then you can carry it around with you and maybe people ask you about it,” she said. “It’s like a way to bring people together and just have a sense of fun and community.”
Pasternack said that she came up with the idea for the program after seeing a similar craft on Pinterest.
“My previous supervisor and I were brainstorming some ideas for craft type programs for the summer,” she said. “I thought it looked really cool.”
Pasternack also felt that it would be a fun way to reuse materials that would otherwise go to waste.
“These are not books that we can resell or read, they’re usually torn or stained or very, very old, and rather than throwing them in the garbage, I thought it would be a fun way to upcycle and kind of recycle these books,” she said.
She has been holding similar events every couple of years for the past decade, and hopes that events like this bring people to the library and get them excited about reading.
“We’re trying to promote literacy, and also bring the community together and welcoming people of all ages,” she said.
