“A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.”
I’ve always loved this proverb. Planting that metaphorical tree is an investment in the future.
The cities of Elk Grove and Sacramento recently made investments in the future of Sacramento Public Library (SPL) by purchasing buildings to renovate and repurpose as libraries to be operated by SPL.
In early 2021,
Elk Grove City Council purchased a vacant Rite Aid building at the southwest corner of Elk Grove Boulevard and Waterman Road in Old Town Elk Grove. The City in partnership with Library are
beginning design work for relocation of the Elk Grove Library to this site. If the recent community focus groups and discussions about the vision for the new location are any indication, investment in libraries comes at the right time. Once the new location opens, the Elk Grove Library will be expansive, easier to staff and operate, and most importantly meet the needs of Elk Grove’s community.
The former Sacramento News & Review building on Del Paso Boulevard will become the
new home of the North Sacramento-Hagginwood Library. The City of Sacramento purchased the nearly 19,000 square feet building this summer, which will allow the Library to expand services, programs and possibilities for the community.
Investments in our Library are more than buildings. This summer, we introduced the Sacramento Intelligent Material Management System (SIMMS) throughout our library system. It will transform how we handle and manage the thousands of books and materials that move throughout our 28 locations each day through process automation. SIMMS tracks each item in our collection helping us pinpoint its status and location down to the shelf. This will make it easier for you to find your holds or locate materials when you visit us. It also provides our wonderful staff with a tool that makes tracking the status of items more transparent allowing us to provide you with better customer service.
And finally, where would we be without the investment the Friends of the Sacramento Public Library have made in our community’s real future, our children? Thanks to the Friends investment, more than 15,000 first graders have access to high-quality books to seed their home libraries. Kids who love reading and grow up believing they can become anything they want is an investment that pays off!