Never Meant performing at the E.P. Foster Library.
In late 2015 across Ventura, flyers for punk rock shows started appearing, taped to streetlight poles and in record stores. There were brief invites on Facebook. The news spread, heard in passing at this market or that gas station. The venue? It was hiding in plain sight: the unassuming 132-capacity Topping Room, named for late county librarian Elizabeth Russell Topping, at the 95-year-old E.P. Foster Library. Just as quickly as those first few shows were set up, a few rules were set forth by the organizers: clean up after yourself. Don't give anyone any trouble. Let this place be something for everyone to express themselves without getting shut down. This is a library. Behave yourselves.
The cost to rent the room for events? $25. The effects of the Topping Room on local Ventura creativity?
To quote the Thesaurus: invaluable, vital, and, of course -- priceless.
Penny postcard image of the E.P. Foster Public Library in Ventura, CA, as it stood from 1921 to 1959, when new construction extended the library over the lawn to Main Street. | Image: Courtesy of the California State University Channel Islands Broome Library Collection.
Over the last six months, it has become a venue not just for the live actions advertised on those first brash street placards -- but a place for everything from talks to meetings and poetry readings to convocations of the Friends of California Condors Wild & Free and the California Native Plant Society. It's a welcome relief from years of reduced library hours, the closing of the H.P. Wright Library across town and general overall funding cuts to the Ventura County Library System. As a catalyst for involvement, the Topping Room has been shepherded into its new realm of multi-subjectival greatness by city librarian Deya Terrafranca. An energetic yet necessarily even-keeled person who's been with the library since August of last year, she stresses the crucial underlying aspect of the library: community. One of the things about our library system is that libraries are about community, she says, adding, And creating space where community can come together. It's for community members who want to present (events) but don't have $100 to spend on a meeting place. We have the ability to provide this space. That's the motivation behind keeping the cost of the room down.
Despite her role as city librarian, she's not the only one in charge of arranging the events. We have a bunch of people behind the scenes. David Harrington is one of our library techs and he works on our adult programming, she reveals, explaining the process more fully. Anyone can log on to our website and fill out the room request form. All we ask for them to do is to agree that whatever event they're having will be free and open to the public. That is the one important clause. Not only is the all-ages punk and indie music scene blossoming under the roof of the Topping, but the local ukulele community has also found a home there. David secured a grant to start our ukulele lending program and it grew into the program that now happens in the Topping Room every second and fourth Monday, Terrafranca says. Our ukulele blowout in August had ukulele players come up from all over Ventura County, and even Santa Barbara and L.A. Counties, and we had over 75 people here taking ukulele workshop classes, she beams, with no small amount of satisfaction.
Human Garbage performing at the E.P. Foster Library. | Video: xmariedetx.
--
--
Not only has the scope of the Topping Room's uses increased, but so has the frequency of those uses. The number of events that the public holds in the Topping Room is double what it was in 2010, she reveals, running down a bit of quick history. In 2012, the library greatly increased the number of library-sponsored events. It's my belief that this increase in events, in conjunction with increased advertising of the events, has brought more people into the Topping Room and increased the public's awareness of the space. With all of the programs happening lately, you'd think there'd be a long waiting list to use the space, but, as she explains, One thing that we do is that we have to be able to plan library events and use that space. We only take reservations within 60 days of an event. We don't tend to run into too many problems.
Are there things that she's produced herself at the Topping of which she's particularly proud? Recently, we had the Ventura County Poetry Out Loud Competition -- and the room was just full of teenagers and parents and other librarians who came to listen to the young people of Ventura County reciting poetry. The room was full! That kind of event -- particularly for the young people of Ventura County -- I love to be able to do that.
What would seminal E.P. Foster Librarian Elizabeth Topping make of what's going on in her room? I really think that any librarian is always just really happy to see people meeting up and sharing information, Terrafranca says. And that includes their music. People getting together and talking about their community; people sharing their expertise. The amount of community participation is something that Elizabeth would be ecstatic about. Pretty much any librarian would be, too! she laughs.
Elizabeth R. Topping was the second head librarian of the Ventura County Library, serving from 1921 through 1949. | Photo: Courtesy the E.P. Foster Library.
She says the programs style could potentially spread to the other libraries in the county library system. There are other meeting rooms throughout our system, she explains, continuing, We have one at the Avenue Library; they're working on a community room at Prueter Library over in Port Hueneme, and I believe there's going to be a meeting
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
22/10/2025
Prime Video Inks Deal To Present NFL Black Friday Game Worldwide By SVG Staff
Wednesday, October 22, 2025 - 10:06 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story ...
22/10/2025
NBA Tip-Off: ESPN Goes 1080p HDR End-to-End, Flipping HDR Switch on REMI and REM...
22/10/2025
FloSports Empowers Division II, III Athletic Departments With Turnkey Production...
22/10/2025
Wall Street Video Summit Debuts, Bringing Together 200 Financial Enterprise Vide...
22/10/2025
Dueling Pianos: International Chopin Piano Competition Is as Competitive as a Ba...
22/10/2025
In 1995, a young Colombian artist released an album that would change Latin pop ...
22/10/2025
Over the past few months, a photovoltaic system has been installed on a three-he...
22/10/2025
The Orion spacecraft for NASA's Artemis II mission is stacked on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kenn...
22/10/2025
L3Harris' Hybrid SATCOM is resilient by design, offering path diversity that eliminates vulnerabilities by routing data across the best available networks i...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. Organizers of NAB Show New York said they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countries along with 260 exhibitor...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C The organizers of The 2025 NAB Show New York have announced that they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countr...
22/10/2025
Masque Sound, a leading theatrical sound reinforcement, installation and design company, supplied an extensive gear package of professional-grade equipment for ...
22/10/2025
Lightware, a global leader in signal management and AV connectivity solutions, is seeing strong market momentum for the UCX-3x3-TPX-RX20, a compact transmitter-...
22/10/2025
MELVILLE, N.Y. Chyron has released PAINT 10.2, the latest update for its telestration platform, adding support for SMPTE ST 2110 IP workflows, expanding brandin...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON Run3TV today said NBCUniversal is joining as an investor in the ATSC 3.0 Framework Authority, which develops the Run3TV NextGen TV application platfo...
22/10/2025
ATLANTA swXtch.io will feature two new networking solutions extending the company's reach across more cloud and on-prem workflows at NAB Show New York, set ...
22/10/2025
The Warner Bros. Discoverys HBO Max streaming services has increased prices for all its streaming tiers effectively immediately for new customers. Existing cust...
22/10/2025
LOS ANGELES OpenDrives has signed a new distribution partnership deal with Versatile Distribution Services (VDS) to strengthen its channel and streamline how it...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C The organizers of The 2025 NAB Show New York have announced that they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countr...
22/10/2025
Samora Pinderhughes Brings Immersive Sound to Berklee's Signature Series The artist and composer, who's worked with Herbie Hancock, Robert Glasper, Co...
22/10/2025
BMI Day at Berklee Celebrates Composer Fil Eisler and Awards Scholarship to Stud...
22/10/2025
Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF cooperate in drone defense Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF partner to deliver a comprehensive drone defense solution combining Rohde & S...
22/10/2025
European Broadcaster Upgrades To Grass Valley's NativeIP LDX 135 Cameras And...
22/10/2025
Everyone Gets a Better Deal on Verizon with New FOX One Perk The $15 FOX One streaming service perk is yet another way Verizon continues to add savings for cu...
22/10/2025
First Look Hidden Assets Series 3
Premieres on 9th November 9:30pm on RT One & RT Player
WATCH HERE Promo Link: Hidden Assets Series 3 | RT
The Crimin...
21/10/2025
NAB New York 2025: Although AES Show Is on Its Own, Audio Will Be a Major Part o...
21/10/2025
NAB New York 2025: Business of Broadcast and Media,' Future of Content'...
21/10/2025
SVG All-Stars: Ethan Folz, Senior Director, Digital Operations and Quality of Ex...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: Livestream Offers Graphic Overlays, Predictive Gaming, Ancil...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: At the Front Bench With Producer Frank DiGraci and Director ...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: NBC Sports, NEP Build Ultra-Flexible Production Plan That Se...
21/10/2025
Indigenous storytelling has been at the heart of the work of the Sundance Instit...
21/10/2025
Top L-R: Mysterious Skin, American Dream Second Row L-R: Little Miss Sunshine, D...
21/10/2025
Last week, Spotify and Columbia Records transformed Pier 4 at the Brooklyn Army ...
21/10/2025
SBS Learn's Dharug Ngurra resource empowers classrooms to meaningfully celeb...
21/10/2025
As global operators simplify and evolve their digital platforms, NPS improvement...
21/10/2025
Critical Design Review completion is a key milestone on the path toward Wideband Global Satellite Communications certification for the network in 2026, opening ...
21/10/2025
New Australian undersea training range to implement and improve warfighting tactics, proficiency and safety; enable joint/allied training that contributes to pr...
21/10/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
21/10/2025
September, the beginning of autumn, brought an expected revival to the TV market, largely due to the new fall TV schedules. The time spent in front of the TV sc...
21/10/2025
Broadcast Booms with 20% Uptick vs. August, Achieving Largest Monthly
Increase ...
21/10/2025
During September, streaming's share of TV viewing in Mexico settled at 24.5%, a marginal shift of -0.5 share points from the previous month.
Disclaimer: YU...
21/10/2025
RENNES, France BBright and GlobalM have conducted a technical trial validating Ultra HD interoperability across the entire contribution chain in the cloud, achi...
21/10/2025
Kokusai Denki Electric America will mark the U.S. debut of a new 4K camera at the 2025 NAB New York, Oct. 22-23. Now available, the Z-HD6500-S1 UHD/HD productio...
21/10/2025
Triveni Digital, a trusted leader in ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 service delivery, data broadcasting, and quality assurance solutions, will showcase its entire NEXTGEN TV ...
21/10/2025
Radio Azzurra FM, longest-running radio station in the province of Novara, northwest Italy, has invested in an DHD SX2 audio routing and mixing console for inte...
21/10/2025
Globecast, the leading provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, has announced the appointment of G Morgan as Executive Vice President of...
21/10/2025
Visual Data announces the appointment of Maz Al-Jumaili as Senior Vice President, Worldwide Localization, to advance client engagement, strategic partnerships, ...
Never Meant performing at the E.P. Foster Library. 
