Richmond, Yes!

The Richmond Public Library has served us well over the decades. But as the city grows, technology evolves, and peoples’ desire for positive community experience intensifies, our Library becomes less able to fulfill its mission.

The Library is too small. To meet national standards for our city’s population, it must double in size. Reliable projections for the growth of the Bay Area predict that the space shortage will only become more critical.

In 2008, the Library conducted an extensive Needs Assessment Study. Numerous interviews and focus groups with community members, library staff, and city leaders took place. Over a thousand residents replied to a survey, in both English and Spanish.

The results of this extensive study pointed conclusively to the tremendous support the Library enjoys in Richmond. The study’s findings also ranked job training resources, computer training and access, and children’s services high on the list of features and facilities that a new Library must provide.

So here we are: Strong community support. A conceptual blueprint for the new Library. And a library foundation ready to marshal the resources of our region. The missing ingredient, of course, is money. Yet despite a tight city budget, the Richmond Public Library Foundation has been steadily earning the recognition of our community while laying the groundwork for a capital campaign.

How can you help?

• Get involved. Voice your support for a new Library at City Council meetings. Write letters to local newspapers, reminding readers of the role that our Library has in the civic and economic life of our community.
• Make a donation earmarked for Richmond, yes!. Your contribution adds to the resources needed to mount a full-fledged capital campaign to build a new Library at the Civic Center.