Greetings from the San Juan Ridge Community Library

Post date: Nov 2, 2017 9:38:11 PM

by Mary Moore, San Juan Ridge Community Library

Hours: Tue. & Thur. 11 am- 7 pm, Sat. 10 am - 4 pm

Phone: 292-3008

· Wi-fi and computers available for public use

· Work stations and comfortable seating

· DVDs for checkout, Book sale shelf, Periodicals, Children’s room

· Experienced staff on hand

· An ever-evolving collection of wonders

Hooray!! In mid-October the County Supervisors approved a Letter of Understanding between the County Library system and our own “Ridge Library.” Recognizing that with generous donations of money and materials, and volunteers working many, many hours, we have created a REAL Library. One of our projects was to help pass Measure A, which gave the County Library money to improve services to rural areas. So, with this Letter of Understanding, the “Ridge Library” will now be funded to independently provide services in this area. Though we are loosely tied to the County, they committed to helping us upgrade technology, develop our collection, and share some programming.

While $50,000 sounds like a lot for the year, much of it will be absorbed in our usual expenses of insurances, utilities, and supplies. Two of our volunteers will be put on partial salaries which will rejuvenate them. Immediately, we celebrated by getting a nice thick rug for the children’s room to keep them warm in winter. We will be doing two story hours per month: on the second and fourth Mondays from 11 to 11:30 A.M. More to come!

With our new ties to the County Library, came an exciting working relationship with the Friends of Nevada County Libraries. For the past 7 years they have been funding and staffing the Foley Historical Library in Nevada City. With the passage Measure A the County is taking back the financial responsibility for that facility. The “Friends” called us to see if we needed help. So far they have gifted us 2 cases of white copy paper, two new computers are being ordered and(trumpet fanfare) they will be helping us purchase new carpeting. If you haven’t tripped on the holes, bumps, and throw rugs, you will soon.

Fear not, the San Juan Ridge Community Library Board is not retiring from cooking and putting on our fund raisers. It is so nice to have our basic expenses covered…but we still have plans for improvement. We are thinking of more comfortable chairs for folks using the computers… and someday a better system for the catalog and check out system. Of course, we welcome your input!