Category of Service: Education

Mission

California Area Public Library provides service to borrowers of books, periodicals, etc., and computer access to the public.

Programs and Services

• California Area Public Library provides to the citizens of eight surrounding communities the ability to borrow books, audiobooks, DVDs, periodicals, and so forth, as well as to use digital books and audio books. The Library is an independent member of the 14-library Washington County Library System, which includes 6 additional libraries in Greene and Fayette counties. We are WAGGIN: One Card, Twenty Libraries. Patrons can search the digital catalog to discover and borrow holdings in all WAGGIN libraries as well as the digital collection.
• Our physical collection is housed in a charming 1910 former passenger rail station; the building is small but very functional. People visit, sit and chat for awhile or stay to use the internet-ready computers. Printing, photocopying, and FAXing or scanning to email are essential services. We offer programs, mostly to children. Quite often, patrons will bring from a home a project that needs space to spread out, or will settle into our adult room to work on proctored school tests.
• In 2022, 3,298 people visited California Area Library during the 2,298 hours we were open. We have 16,369 cataloged items in the building. We circulated 9,940 items. After cleaning up the District database, we recorded 1,274 active-within-the-past-three years members.
• In summer 2023 we partnered with Food Helpers to provide free Saturday lunches for children in 5th grade and below; the Saturday Foodbook program includes fun activities that teach children and their adults about the five food groups and USDA MyPlate program, closing each session with the children filling their own lunchboxes. In July we gathered with our Washington County sister libraries to hold an Extravaganza in Mingo Creek Park, complete with a magic show, lots of give away items, and hot dogs from the Red Cross.
• WCCF recently provided funding so that we could hire two young men to remove and then relay the back patio of the yellow brick platform which surrounds our building. The result is a level area that should resist growing weeds. Future projects include securing funding to replace 16 very large storm windows and add 10 much smaller storms to our building. Vandals have ruined three of the large storm windows, so this is an essential project. It will require us to repaint the window frames, which are beginning to show wear. We plan to complete our refurbished look by replacing three storm doors. We also need to hire a professional to repair the metal roof of our 1959 caboose, which chronically leaks around it cupola. We are poised to add outdoor security to our space when California Borough extends camera service to our end of Wood Street.
• Speaking of California Borough, we are very grateful for their generous and dependable support of the Library. The municipality owns the building and therefore provides essential upkeep as well as insurance protection and internet service. Roscoe Borough also deserves recognition for its steadfast yearly donation. Without these two, we would struggle to keep our doors open, We could always use more help from other Library friends! Some of our most generous donors have recently dropped off, or passed away.

Primary Revenue Sources

PA State and County distributions, private donations

Primary Fundraising Event

WCCF Gives Day

2022 Financials

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