La Quinta

Library service to the La Quinta community began in March 1976 with a bookmobile stop each morning in the community’s “Village” (now known as “Old Town”). The bookmobile would then park next to the Village Park’s playground area and a large quilt would be spread on the lawn. The children would sit on the quilt and listen to the manager of the bookmobile for an open-air preschool story time.

In 1986, funding was approved by Riverside County and the City of La Quinta for a library. In the summer of 1988, the La Quinta Branch Library opened in the newly constructed 2,000 square foot commercial building directly across from what was the old La Quinta City Hall. The library was open only 20 hours a week and had a collection of 8,900 items.

By the late 1990’s, La Quinta was one of the fastest growing cities in California. The City Council strongly suggested to the County that a bigger library was needed in order to serve the increasing population. A “Site Selection Committee” began searching for a new location. The library’s building had been purchased by a civic-minded developer, and since two suites remained empty, it was decided to renovate the ground floor into a bigger library instead. All the items were placed in two storage containers in the parking lot while the floor was expanded to 4,130 square feet. This new library was reopened in 1999, with 40 hours of service and a collection of 28,000 items. Eventually, a 20,000 square foot “stand-alone” library would be built on the City’s new Civic Center Campus.

The present building opened in 2005, with the library only occupying the space currently known as the Children’s Area. By 2008, the library expanded into the Adult Area, and a storytime room was built as well as a teen room. Many programs from then continue to this day: preschool story time, children, teen, adult, as well as other informative presentations by community partners.

The current collection is over 71,000 items, and includes books, DVDs, audio and MP3 books, CDs and newspapers and magazines. It is open 7 days a week for 56 hours. There are 17 library staff personnel, including Circulation Supervisor, Programming Coordinator, Head of Reference, Youth Services Coordinator, and Branch Manager. Circulation for the 2013-2014 fiscal year was 329,157 items (including self-check), making La Quinta Public Library 3rd in circulation County wide.

The Library has become a viable community collaborator, sharing programs and resources with local La Quinta businesses and City-run entities. It continues to grow and expand its outreach not only to the surrounding communities, but well into its future.

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