The Tully Community Branch Library slithered into the Lunar New Year season with its holiday festival on Friday as patrons celebrated the Year of the Snake alongside the library’s 20th anniversary.
The library opened for the Tully community on Jan. 22, 2005, according to the San José Public Library history timeline.
The celebration began with speeches from Jill Bourne, the San José City Librarian as families chattered and bustled around the library’s Community Room.
“Not only are we celebrating the 20th birthday of this young, beautiful library, but also Lunar New Year, so we get to have double the fun,” Bourne said.
Located three miles south of campus, the library is one of the six facilities opened because of the $211.8 million from Measure O, according to the same Public Library history timeline.
This measure was the biggest library funding proposals of of the 2000 year, according to a November 2000 American Library Association press release.
Multiple attendees recalled their memories of the space when it was constructed and opened, including Betty Duong, Santa Clara County supervisor for District 2.
“The libraries are incredible and cherished resources in our community, I just can't ever overstate that,” Duong said. “(The) Tully library was our de facto Vietnamese community center space for many, many years.”
The Tully library offers a boon of resources for the East Asian community in the area, evidenced by its over 16,000 Vietnamese and Chinese language materials, according to the San José Public Library catalog.
“They're here for good reason because this is the heart of Little Saigon,” Duong said.
Little Saigon is the epicenter of San José’s substantial Vietnamese population, one of the largest of any city outside of Vietnam, according to Pew Research enumerations in 2019.
Today, the library is integrated with a Family Learning Center, which provides materials and classes for English language learning, navigating citizenship, digital literacy and more, according to the San José Public Library website.
Bien Doan, San José’s District 7 councilmember spoke to constituents at the hybrid Lunar New Year and anniversary celebration.
“It is the year of the snake,” Doan said. “We recognize the symbol of wisdom, the adaptability, that the transformation qualities reflect the resilience and the strength of our Vietnamese community right here in San José.”
Doan’s parents immigrated to the U.S. after the Vietnam War, the catalyst for America’s initial Vietnamese population boom, according to the councilmember’s biography on the City of San José website.
Kim Chu, the Tully Branch librarian who organized the 20th Anniversary and Lunar New Year Festival, appreciated the appearance of the community’s representatives at the event on Friday.
“That's really important for community leaders to come out and touch base and see the resources that are offered, the resources that are needed, and just hearing feedback from the people they serve,” Chu said.
The day of the Lunar New Year this year is observed on January 29, 2025, with around 2 billion people celebrating the renewal of the Chinese calendar globally, according to a University of California San Francisco web page.
Chu celebrated alongside their new community on Friday while wearing their áo dài, the national dress of Vietnam.
“It's my cultural heritage, so for me, it's about connecting with family,” Chu said. “But since I'm in San José and I'm a little far from my family, it's been an experience for me to connect with others from my community, figuring out who my community is up here and being able to celebrate that with people.”
While children lined up on one side of the library to get their names scribed in calligraphy and vibrant portraits painted on their faces, families gathered for an hour of local youth performances on the other side of the building.
One of those who gathered for the performances was Rashi Khangura, Director of Happier Aging at Nurse Next Door and a local home care provider.
“A lot of our demographics are Vietnamese and Chinese, and so we want to be able to come here and support them as they celebrate,” Khangura said.
Viêt Steps took the stage first, twirling fans and paper flowers as they showcased multiple forms of Múa Dân Gian, Vietnamese traditional dancing.
“Being, you know, of Southeast Asian and East Indian heritage as well, watching your future generations kind of live the culture, I think is beautiful in itself,” Khangura said.
With the library’s five most popular language materials being English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese and German, Chu said the location attracts a diverse array of patrons.
“Even though it is a Lunar New Year event, (we are) making sure that we have everyone from the community to participate,” Chu added.
Folklórico skirts whipped through the air and colorful lion facades danced down the aisles as the Vietnamese American Services Center youth folklórico dancers and Evergreen Wushu martial artists closed out the performances.
“A lot of the Folklorico kids, the coordinator told me that they live down the street, so they've grown up in this area,” Chu said. “They're part of this neighborhood, so it feels really special to have them come and perform with us.”
Chu also said Friday’s event is the last they will organize for the Tully library as they prepare to transfer to another branch.
“I think during any process of putting an event together, it can be a little overwhelming with just all of the moving pieces that need to come together,” Chu said. “But I could not have done it without the support of my staff.”
As the Year of the Snake begins, new administrations begin on both the local and national levels.
“We have a lot of work ahead of us in terms of protecting our immigrant communities, making sure that Santa Clara County remains a welcoming community honoring that immigrant heritage,” Duong said.
