How did the Fall River Valley Library come to be?
There used to be a small Shasta County branch library in Fall River Mills. In 1988 severe budget cuts hit California and the result was the loss of our county library. The books were taken to Redding, which might have been the end of the library for the valley.
However, the community stepped up. It began with a few folks calling their friends and families, asking for donations of books and for help to put a new library together.
Since then, our library continues to be powered by generosity and volunteers.
The first home of the Fall River Valley Library was a small white house in Fall River Mills. The house was donated for token rent, lumber was donated for shelves, and books were accumulated. The house was cleaned and painted, the shelves were built and installed, and the books were catalogued for opening day on September 12, 1988.
The library contained a reference room, a children's room, and a room for hardback fiction. A trailer was donated, too, and shelves were added to hold 2,000 paperbacks. By our first anniversary, the library had 350 registered borrowers, 11,000 books, an Apple II computer, a Talking Book Center, magazine racks, and 4,000 paperbacks.
In 1990, the lease expired on "the little white house" and PG&E donated a building (across from the old mill) that they no longer needed, allowing the library to use the building indefinitely. Once again the community came together to retrofit the new building. The building was rewired, the leaky roof was fixed, and the outside was primed and painted. The inside was lined with white shelves filled with books and the library was dedicated on August 29, 1990
OUR
HISTORY
Today, the Fall River Valley Library is housed in a 4,000 square foot building, donated by an anonymous donor, and offers approximately 16,000 hardcover books, 10,400 paperbacks, over 700 audiobooks, current periodicals and various reference materials, as well as an outdoor garden reading area. The library has a computer section with three public computers and one reference computer, Free WiFi, a conference room for public use, and many events and programs throughout the year. It is open 5 days a week for a total of 30 hours. We can all be proud of this "little" library that began back in 1988 and has grown to over 60 volunteers, some of whom are part of the staff and many more who do those "extra" jobs. With plans to continue to expand their offerings, there is always room for more volunteers… stop by and see What’s New!
