Alameda County Library

Public library system in California's Alameda County
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Alameda County Library
LocationAlameda, California
Established1910
Branches11
Collection
Size1,115,484 items
Access and use
Circulation6,796,800
Population served589,666
Other information
Budget$40,531,136
Websitehttp://www.aclibrary.org[1][2]

The Alameda County Library, in Alameda County, California, is a public library system that provides services from eleven branch libraries in the cities of Albany, Dublin, Fremont, Newark and Union City and the unincorporated communities of Castro Valley, Cherryland and San Lorenzo. According to 2005/2006 statistics, the total service area represents a population of about 522,000, and annual circulation is reported to be around 5.5 million.[3][needs update] Its headquarters are located in Fremont.[4]

The County Library was established in 1910 and is governed by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. The Alameda County Library Advisory Commission advises the County Librarian and the Board of Supervisors on library services.

Funding

The County Library is funded primarily by local property taxes, with additional revenue from state grants and contracts with cities for additional open hours and services. Service in unincorporated areas is funded in part by a utility users and business license tax collected in unincorporated areas, and allocated by the Board of Supervisors. The Alameda County Library Foundation and Friends or Library League groups support library programs and services in each community.

Branches

The Alameda County Library branch in Dublin.

As of 2022, the Alameda County Library has eleven branch libraries.

Castro Valley

The Castro Valley Library serves approximately 60,000 residents in the unincorporated area of Castro Valley, California.

History

The original Castro Valley Library was first opened in 1927 on Castro Valley Blvd, in a water tank owned by the Booth family. It later moved to another building, at 20055 Redwood Road, which was designed by architects Wahamaki and Corey. That building opened in 1962 with a collection of over 23,000 items, at a cost of $230,000. The current collection is approximately 100,000 items. A new replacement library opened on October 31, 2009 at 3600 Norbridge Ave. The new library has been funded by a combination of state bond (13.9 million) and public support for a total cost of $22,276,464. The architect for the project is Noll and Tam, Berkeley, California. The contractor for the new building is W.A. Thomas, Inc., Martinez, California. A groundbreaking ceremony was held April 18, 2008.

Services and programs

The Alameda County Library Bookmobile is a library on wheels with books, magazines, music CDs, CDROMs, videos, DVDs and books on cassette and CD for children, teens, and adults. The bookmobile visits schools and neighborhoods once every two weeks.

Youth services

Adult services

Jail services

Alameda County Library provides library service and literacy/life skills instruction to men and women held in county jails. Most of the materials circulated each year are donated by members of the community.

Community languages

Alameda County Library collects languages that support the community demographics. A Community Language Committee was formed to identify the needs of communities and sustain a balanced collection of international languages.

The library actively collects works in the following languages:

Timeline

Awards

Write to Read

Sources

References

  1. ^ Alameda County Library budget presentation 2020-2021 [1]. Retrieved on 2023-04-18.
  2. ^ Libraries count! Fiscal year 2014-2015 annual statistics [2]. Retrieved on 2016-11-23.
  3. ^ Alameda County Library Annual Report - 05/06 Archived 2008-10-26 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on 2007-10-10.
  4. ^ "Library Administration Archived 2010-04-10 at the Wayback Machine." Alameda County Library. Retrieved on April 1, 2010.
  5. ^ Alameda County Library (June 10, 2019). "Alameda County Library is Going Fine-Free". PR NewsWire. Retrieved June 11, 2023.

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