Sonoma County Library

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Sonoma County Library
Sonoma County Library logo2.jpg
Santa Rosa Central Library.jpg
Santa Rosa Central Library
Sonoma County Library
38°26′28.3776″N122°42′38.2284″W / 38.441216000°N 122.710619000°W / 38.441216000; -122.710619000
Location211 E Street, Santa Rosa, California (main branch), United States
TypePublic library
Established1975 (county-wide system; individual branches established in the years between 1859 and 2015) [1]
Branches13
Collection
Size650,000 [2]
Access and use
Circulation3.5 M (2012/2013) [3]
Population served490,423
Other information
Budget$30.5 M USD (2012/2013)
DirectorAnn Hammond [4]
Employees155 (139 FTE)
Website sonomalibrary.org

The Sonoma County Library is a medium-sized public library system that serves the nine cities and unincorporated areas of Sonoma County, California. The library system is a joint powers authority, with administration located at the Administrative Offices, 6135 State Farm Dr, Rohnert Park, CA 94928. [5]

Contents

History

In 1859, a private library association established the Santa Rosa Library, founding what was the 14th public library in California. The Santa Rosa Library would be the ancestor of the Central Library of the Sonoma County Library system. Santa Rosa's second library building was dedicated in March 1904 with a Carnegie grant, [6] although the 1906 earthquake damaged it badly. The library was rebuilt as the Santa Rosa Free Public Library and served Santa Rosa until 1960, when deferred maintenance forced the City of Santa Rosa to condemn the old Carnegie library; the Santa Rosa Public Library was housed for several years in temporary quarters in downtown Santa Rosa. [7]

Private and municipal libraries were also established in towns throughout Sonoma County from the mid-19th century, onward, including Petaluma (1858), Cloverdale (1884), Healdsburg (1896), Sonoma (1903), Sebastopol (1916) and Guerneville (1924). In 1945, Sonoma County Free Public Library was founded. By 1950, the new system included a Central Library and four branches, a bookmobile, and many outlets, among them 80 school libraries. The Santa Rosa Public Library merged with the Sonoma County Free Public Library in 1965, and the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors designated the combined organization as official archives for the county.

A new Santa Rosa Central Library opened in 1967, to replace the old Carnegie Library. The new library included the “California Room”; this became the core of the Sonoma County History and Genealogy Library collection. Between 1967 and 1975, an additional Santa Rosa Library opened, the Northwest Library, adjacent to Coddingtown Mall (1968), and a new library was built in Sebastopol (1974) to replace the old Carnegie library damaged in a 1969 earthquake.

In 1975, a county-wide Library Joint Powers Agreement was signed, uniting all public libraries in Sonoma County in one system. This served the library system until 2014, when a revised Library Joint Powers Agreement was approved and instituted that included representation from all nine Sonoma County cities and the County of Sonoma. During this period, new library buildings opened in Petaluma (1976), Healdsburg (1988) and Guerneville (1988); additional library branches opened in Santa Rosa's Rincon Valley (1994) and Windsor (1996) and Rohnert Park (2003). In November 2015, a temporary storefront library was established in the Roseland district of southwest Santa Rosa to serve Roseland's predominantly Latino community; a permanent facility is planned for the site as part of a redevelopment project. [8]

The Sonoma County Library shares a catalog with the Mendocino County Library and Lake County Library systems, allowing patrons of each library to borrow material from any library in the three systems. [9]

Funding

The library is funded predominantly by a parcel tax levied on properties within its jurisdiction. [10] In November 2016, Sonoma County voters passed a 1⁄8 cent sales tax dedicated to funding the Sonoma County Library. Over 71% of the electorate approved the measure (Measure Y), which required a two-thirds majority to pass. The measure will be in effect for ten years. [11]

Branches

The Sonoma County Library serves the nine incorporated Sonoma County communities and their surrounding areas, as well as the predominantly rural area of west Sonoma County. The bigger branches are located in the largest communities of Santa Rosa (with three locations), Petaluma and Rohnert Park, with small branches and storefront libraries (or rural stations) serving the remainder of the County. [12]

Branches

Rural Stations

Special collections

The system includes three special collections: the Sonoma County History & Genealogy Library (located adjacent to the Central Library); the Sonoma County Wine Library (located within the Healdsburg Regional Library); and the Petaluma History Room (located within the Petaluma Regional Library). The Library also administers the Sonoma County Archives and makes materials available by appointment through the Sonoma County History & Genealogy Library.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonoma County, California</span> County in California, United States

Sonoma County is located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its seat of government and largest city is Santa Rosa. It is to the north of Marin County and the south of Mendocino County. It is west of Napa and Lake Counties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santa Rosa, California</span> City in California, United States

Santa Rosa is a city in and the county seat of Sonoma County, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area in California. Its population as of the 2020 census was 178,127. It is the largest city in California's Wine Country and Redwood Coast. It is the fifth most populous city in the Bay Area after San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, and Fremont; and the 25th most populous city in California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wine Country</span> Area of Northern California known as a wine-growing region

Wine Country is the region of California, in the northern San Francisco Bay Area, known worldwide as a premier wine-growing region. The region is famed for its wineries, its cuisine, Michelin star restaurants, boutique hotels, luxury resorts, historic architecture, and culture. Viticulture and wine-making have been practiced in the region since the Spanish missionaries from Mission San Francisco Solano established the first vineyards in 1812.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California State Route 116</span> Highway in California

State Route 116 (SR 116) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California in Sonoma County. The route runs from SR 1 on the Pacific coast near Jenner to SR 121 south of Sonoma.

Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) is a public community college in Santa Rosa, California with an additional campus in Petaluma and centers in surrounding Sonoma County. Santa Rosa Junior College was modeled as a feeder school for the University of California system. SRJC is operated by the Sonoma County Community College District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit</span> Rail service

Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) is a rail line and bicycle-pedestrian pathway project in Sonoma and Marin counties of the U.S. state of California. When completed, the entire system will serve a 70-mile (110 km) corridor between Cloverdale in northern Sonoma County and Larkspur Landing in Marin County. In 2022, the system had a ridership of 474,500, or about 2,100 per weekday as of the first quarter of 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northwestern Pacific Railroad</span> Regional railroad in California, US

The “Northwestern Pacific Railroad” was a 271 mile mainline railroad from the ferry connections in Sausalito north to Eureka with a connection to the national railroad system at Schellville. The railroad has gone through a history of different ownership and operators but has maintained a generic name of reference as “The Northwestern Pacific.” Currently, only a 62-mile (100 km) stretch of mainline on the “South End” is operated by Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART), which operates both commuter and freight trains with plans for future extension north to Cloverdale. The “North End,” from Willits to Eureka which includes connections to the California Western Railroad] is currently out of service but saved by 2018 legislation to be converted into the Great Redwood Trail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area codes 707 and 369</span> Area codes in northwestern California, United States

Area codes 707 and 369 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the northwestern part of the U.S. state of California. The area codes serve part of the northern San Francisco Bay Area, as well as the North Coast. Major cities in the area codes include Napa, Sebastopol, Vallejo, Benicia, Fairfield, Santa Rosa, Windsor, Healdsburg, Rohnert Park, Petaluma, Fort Bragg, Rio Vista, Crescent City, Eureka, Clearlake, Vacaville, Dixon, and Ukiah. 707 was created by a split of area code 415 on March 1, 1959. Area code 369 was added to the numbering plan area (NPA) on February 1, 2023, to form an overlay numbering plan in the service area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russian River (California)</span> River in California

The Russian River is a southward-flowing river that drains 1,485 sq mi (3,850 km2) of Sonoma and Mendocino counties in Northern California. With an annual average discharge of approximately 1,600,000 acre feet (2.0 km3), it is the second-largest river flowing through the nine-county Greater San Francisco Bay Area, with a mainstem 115 mi (185 km) long.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad</span>

Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad was a 600 volt DC electric interurban railway in Sonoma County, California, United States. It operated between the cities of Petaluma, Sebastopol, Forestville, and Santa Rosa. Company-owned steamboats provided service between Petaluma and San Francisco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laguna de Santa Rosa</span> River in California, United States

The Laguna de Santa Rosa is a 22-mile-long (35 km) wetland complex that drains a 254-square-mile (660 km2) watershed encompassing most of the Santa Rosa Plain in Sonoma County, California, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonoma County Transit</span> Public transportation system in California, United States

Sonoma County Transit is a public transportation system based in Sonoma County, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark West Creek</span> Stream in the state of California

Mark West Creek is a 29.9-mile-long (48.1 km) stream that rises in the Mayacamas Mountains of Sonoma County, California, United States. Tributaries of Mark West Creek include Porter Creek and Hummingbird Creek, both of which originate in the same mountain range. Discharge waters of Mark West Creek reach the Russian River after a confluence with the Laguna de Santa Rosa. The Community Clean Water Institute has developed a program for monitoring pollutants in Mark West Creek.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brainerd Jones</span> American architect

Brainerd Jones was an American architect who designed and built most of the architecturally significant buildings in Petaluma, California.

The Sonoma Coast AVA is an American Viticultural Area in Sonoma County, California, United States containing more than 500,000 acres (2,000 km2), mostly along the coastline of the Pacific Ocean. It extends from San Pablo Bay to the border with Mendocino County. The appellation is known for its cool climate and high rainfall relative to other parts of Sonoma County. The area has such a broad range of microclimates that petitions have been made to the United States Department of the Treasury Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau for the creation of sub-AVAs such as the Fort Ross-Seaview AVA which was approved in December 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad</span> Northern California railroad from Ukiah to Tiburon with ferry to San Francisco (1869-1907)

San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad (SF&NP) provided the first extensive standard gauge rail service to Sonoma County and became the southern end of the regional Northwestern Pacific Railroad. Although first conceived of by Asbury Harpending, who had even obtained many of the right of ways, the SF & NP was bought and subsequently constructed by Peter Donahue, who drove the first spike on August 30, 1869.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KRCG-FM</span> Public radio station in Windsor, California, United States

KRCG-FM is a non-commercial public broadcasting radio station licensed to Santa Rosa, California, serving Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Cloverdale, Geyserville, Windsor, Sebastopol, Forestville, Calistoga and surrounding areas in California. KRCG-FM is owned and operated by Northern California Public Media.

Sonoma Water, formerly known as the Sonoma County Water Agency, maintains a water transmission system that provides naturally filtered Russian River water to more than 600,000 residents in portions of Sonoma County, California and Marin County, California. The Water Agency is a water wholesaler that sells potable water to nine cities and special districts that in turn sell drinking water to their residents. These cities and special districts are: the City of Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Cotati, Petaluma, Sonoma, the Town of Windsor, Valley of the Moon Water District, Marin Municipal Water District, and North Marin Water District.

References

  1. ↑ "Sonoma County Library timeline". Sonoma County Library. 2015. Retrieved 2015-04-29.
  2. ↑ "California Public Library Statistics: Ready Reports". California State Library. 2015. Retrieved 2015-04-29.
  3. ↑ "California Public Library Statistics: Ready Reports". California State Library. 2015. Retrieved 2015-04-29.
  4. ↑ "Library Administration". Sonoma County Library. 2019. Retrieved 2019-12-31.
  5. ↑ "Google Maps" . Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  6. ↑ LeBaron, Gaye; Blackman, Dee; Hansen, Harvey; Mitchell, Joann (1985). Santa Rosa : a nineteenth century town. Santa Rosa, Calif.: Historia, Ltd. pp. 127–128. ISBN   9780961501013.
  7. ↑ "Santa Rosa's Carnegie Library". Sonoma County Library. 2014. Retrieved 2014-02-10.
  8. ↑ Moore, Derek (3 November 2015), "Long-awaited Roseland library branch opens", Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, Calif.), Santa Rosa: Sonoma Media Group, 2015, ISSN   0747-220X , retrieved 2015-12-04
  9. ↑ "Sonoma County Library timeline". Sonoma County Library. 2015. Retrieved 2015-04-29.
  10. ↑ "California Public Library Statistics: Ready Reports". California State Library. 2015. Retrieved 2015-04-29.
  11. ↑ Warren, Christi (9 November 2016), "Measure Y, Sonoma County library tax, passes", Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, Calif.), Santa Rosa: Sonoma Media Group, 2016, ISSN   0747-220X , retrieved 2016-11-17
  12. ↑ "California Library Directory -- Sonoma County Library" (PDF). California State Library. 2013. Retrieved 2014-02-10.
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