Alameda County Library


The Alameda County Library, in Alameda County, California, is a public library system that provides services from ten branch libraries in the cities of Albany, Dublin, Fremont, Newark and Union City and the unincorporated communities of Castro Valley 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. Its headquarters are located in Fremont.
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. The Board of Supervisors allocates a portion of a utility users and business license tax which is collected only in the unincorporated areas of the County to the Library for service to the unincorporated areas. The Alameda County Library Foundation and active Friends or Library League groups in each community support library programs and services.

Branches

As of 2011, the Alameda County Library has ten branch libraries.
The Castro Valley Library serves approximately 60,000 residents in the unincorporated area of Castro Valley, California, United States.

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. It opened in 1962 with a collection of over 23,000 and a cost of $230,000. The current collection is approximately 100,000. 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 and public support for a total cost of $22,276,464. The Architect for the project is Noll and Tam, Berkeley, CA. The contractor for the new building is W.A. Thomas, Inc., Martinez, CA. 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

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.
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 the following languages:
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