About the Library
The Sacramento Public Library is a distinctive, vital, and widely-used community service with its 27 city and county library branches and two bookmobiles. The Sacramento Public Library is the fifth largest library system in the state and is the information hub of all the libraries in the central region of Northern California.
More than 467,000 Sacramento area residents have a library card. The library circulates more than 6,125,000 items annually. Its holdings include more than 1,900,000 items that include adult and children's books, magazines, newspapers, audio cassettes, compact discs, DVDs, and videos. It also offers free one-to-one online tutoring sessions to students, chat reference, and several databases containing millions of electronic articles and items not available on the World Wide Web.
The library reaches out to bring people and reading together, often for the first time, through programs for toddlers, pre-schoolers, school-age children, teens, adults, and families; Books-by-Mail; Dial-A-Story; Dial-A-Book; adult literacy; after-school homework centers; a college and career center; as well as a telephone information and reference line.
The Sacramento Room, at the Central Library, is a repository of history and information pertaining to Sacramento, as well as several special collections including the Sacramento Area Authors Collection, the Printing and Book Arts History Collection, and the Special Collection.
Mission and Objectives:
The Sacramento Public Library's mission is to provide open access to diverse sources and ideas that inspire learning, promote reading, and enhance community life.
Milestones in Sacramento Public Library History:
- 1857 - Sacramento Library Association (a subscription library) opens a library with 800 volumes at 5th and J streets.
- 1873 - The Library Association purchased a site and constructs a new library on I Street, between 7th and 8th streets.
- 1879 - The City of Sacramento assumes the Association's debt and establishes a free, tax-supported Sacramento Public Library.
- 1908 - The first county library in California is established in Elk Grove.
- 1914 - The Carnegie Corporation grants $100,000 for the construction of the city's main library which opened in 1918 and is today's Central Library.
- 1948 - The city's first bookmobile goes into operation.
- 1966 - Sacramento City and County library systems partially merge.
- 1977 - The library's one-millionth volume is added to its collection.
- 1993 - Sacramento City and County create the Sacramento Public Library Authority.
- 1996 - Sacramento city voters pass a ballot measure for a 10-year assessment for increased funding for city library branches. And, voters pass another 10-year ballot measure in 2006 to continue support for city library branches.
- 2007 - Sacramento Public Library celebrates its 150th anniversary.