Shasta Library Foundation

History

The Library is a center for lifelong learning and collects, preserves, and provides free access to information and library materials for all citizens of Shasta County through a library headquartered in Redding and with branches in Burney and Anderson. The first library in Shasta County was a municipal library built in 1908 in Library Park with a grant from the Carnegie Foundation. It became part of the county library system formed in the late 1940s. The system thrived for several decades – culminating in a main library and 23 branches and stations. The passage of Proposition 13 negatively impacted funding for the library and ultimately resulted in its closure in 1987. The County reopened three libraries – in Redding, Burney and Anderson – in 1988 with funding assistance from the Cities of Redding and Anderson and later, the Friends of the Library.

The Shasta Library Foundation was established in 1991 in response to a continuing weak financial base with the purpose of providing funding stability and enhancing the services and resources of the library through the creation of a permanent endowment. The Shasta Library Foundation is an IRC 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation providing support for the Shasta Public Libraries system with a 15-member Board of Directors comprised of volunteers who are leaders in the efforts to improve the quality of library services in the county. In the mid-1990s, the Shasta Library Foundation received a bequest from the Elizabeth G. Hyatt Trust that funded a restricted Book Fund and the assets of the Redding Women’s Club provided the beginning of the General Endowment Fund.

The Shasta Library Foundation board members spent the next decade participating in numerous committees, task forces, and commissions looking for ways to improve library services and facilities. The passage in 2000 of the Library Construction and Renovation Bond Act provided an unprecedented opportunity for citizens in Shasta County to build a new library. The Shasta Library Foundation’s board members worked collaboratively with New Library Now! to raise the local funds needed to obtain the state grant.

With the new building under construction, concerns again surfaced about keeping the Library open. Under the leadership of the Shasta Library Foundation, a final task force addressed the significant ongoing operational, financing, and governance issues challenging the Library. The Task Force recommended a joint city/county library system with the City of Redding owning the new library headquarters, the County retaining ownership of the branches and contracting with the City to operate the system. These recommendations were implemented in January, 2007. The City has also contracted with a private company called Library Systems and Services (LSSI) to manage the library system. With the commitment of additional funds from the county and cities, and the cost savings realized through the LSSI management contract, the new state-of-the-art Redding Library is now open 60 hours/week, Anderson 40 hours, and Burney 24 hours.

More information on the Libraries we support

Photos of the New Redding Library

The Shasta Library Foundation continues to play a leadership role with a permanent representative on the five member citizen Library Advisory Committee advising the Redding City Council which serves as the Library Board.

Although the services and resources of the public library are free to our community, they don’t come without a cost. We rely on our public funds, paid through our taxes, to keep our libraries in Redding, Anderson, and Burney, open and operational. Unfortunately, in Shasta County, our library funding is about one-third what the majority of libraries in the state spend and we have a collection about one-half the size it should be for our community.

The Foundation’s immediate goal is to develop a $4 million endowment sufficient to support our Libraries’ collection development needs. It is estimated that at least $200,000 will be needed annually to maintain and grow the library collection so that by the year 2020, the Libraries will almost reach the recommended 2.5 volumes per person. Since 2002, through grass-roots fundraising efforts, the Shasta Library Foundation has raised almost $1 million. We believe it will take the efforts of the public and private sectors working together to provide the library resources and services our community wants and needs.

The Foundation also assists the Shasta Public Libraries in obtaining grant funding to help meet special purpose needs.

Libraries are still the key to information – information we obtain through the Libraries’ comprehensive book collections, electronically through the Libraries’ many computers and on-line systems, and from the resources of our library staff – the people who can never be replaced and are necessary to navigate our planet’s increasingly sophisticated world of information.

"Passing of the Books"

Photos from the "Passing of the Books" in celebration of the opening of the new Redding Library on March 3, 2007.