Orange Cove library opens

Published online on Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009

Orange Cove will celebrate its new library today, after nearly 100 years of having its library in leased space.

Fresno County will hold a ceremony at 10 a.m. to mark the opening of the Orange Cove Branch Library in the heart of town at 815 Park Blvd.

County Supervisor Judy Case, Mayor Victor Lopez and others are expected to attend.

The single-story, 10,000-square-foot building eventually will have more than 40 computers, new books and CDs (along with the existing collection), areas for different age groups, and a number of other features, County Librarian Karen Bosch Cobb said in a presentation to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

"It is said that we design our buildings, but in the end, our buildings shape us," Bosch Cobb said. "This is especially true of libraries."

The new library will replace a small branch location with poor air conditioning, said Case, who represents the area.

Measure B funds helped to pay for the $5.3 million facility. Fresno County voters approved an eighth of a cent sales tax for libraries in 1998 and 2004.

Measure B was intended primarily for library operations, but it also has funded construction of six libraries, including the Orange Cove branch.

Two libraries, in west Fresno and Tranquillity, are planned for construction with remaining Measure B funds. Measure B will expire in 2013; voters rejected another sales tax for libraries last year.

The west Fresno library, part of a regional center, will open early next year. Construction on a library in Tranquillity, in the western part of the county, should start in about four months and be completed around the start of 2011, Bosch Cobb said.