About Us

The mission of the California Area Public Library is to provide an atmosphere where diversity and the open exchange of ideas is encouraged in an effort to foster lifelong learning, strengthening the community through the creation of an educated citizenry via open access to culture, advanced intellectual experiences and information resources. California Area Public Library is a member of the Washington County Library System. CPL is the Information Station for the communities that comprise the California Area School District: Allenport, California, Coal Center, Brownsville Annex, Long Branch, Elco, Roscoe, and West Pike Run Township.

The California Area Public Library works to encourage a community in which the library helps to ensure that:

  • The community’s inquiries are accomplished by consulting proper and authoritative resources.
  • The community embraces diversity.
  • California Area's children will develop the skills necessary for academic and lifelong success, while also developing a sense of accomplishment and a love for reading and learning.
  • Every citizen is provided the opportunity to engage in a life that is culturally and intellectually fulfilling.

    • Monthly Hoagie Fundraiser

    A handy meal

  • Delivered the first Thursday of most every month, generously sized Country Fresh hoagies provide a filling meal to eat hot or cold. Orders are taken through the last Friday of the month before delivery. (In other words, the last Friday of March for April delivery.) Proceeds benefit the library, of course. Hoagies cost just $6 and come in five varieties: American, Italian, Turkey & Swiss, Roast Beef or Pizza (which freezes well). To order, call the library at 724-928-2907, or ask a board member. Orders may be picked up at the library by mid-day.

    Programs

    Storytime

  • In April and May 2013, storytime will begin at 1:00 pm. to accomodate young soccer players. April 2 features our special National Train Day theme and also the beginning of Dig into Reading summer activities.
  • This year's Pennsylvania Summer Reading Club themes: Dig Into Reading (Preschool-Grade 6) and explore Beneath the Surface (grades 7 and up). Please call the library to register in advance.
  • Check the calendar for times or call ahead. Our April and May storytimes start at 1 p.m. because of soccer. Storytime craft supplies are provided by our partner, the California Borough Recreation Authority. (For the record: storytime usually begins at 11:00.)

    • Start an Activity

  • If you are interested in creating a Card Club, a Book Club, a Game Night, a Garden Party or something else novel, we'd like to help. Call to setup an appointment so we can discuss the venture.

    • 2013 Off the Shelf

  • A district fundraiser to help integrate the One Card Network library access system.
  • Theme: Travel
  • We'd love to have you dine at our table. Our decorating theme will feature Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express. (It's a no-brainer that we'd pick a story featuring a train.) Each place setting costs $75. Please join us this fall at the Hilton Garden Inn, Southpointe, for a sixth year of fun. Ask us for details. We will note that even those who dread such events report they had a grand time. The event (which features a table decorating contest, auctions, a guest speaker, live music, a cash bar, good food and lots of fun) is sponosored by the law firm of Peacock, Keller.

    • History

    The following text is a paraphrasing of an essay by the late Elsie Channing titled “Brief History."

    In 1935, forty Federation Club women decided to justify their existence as a civic group by organizing a public library. They rented an empty storeroom in the Parinello building on Third Street, fixed it up, found books, and at 2:00 on the last Saturday of May, opened the doors of California Public Library.

    Volunteers manned the library from two to four on Saturdays and from seven to nine on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Bake sales, rummage sales, card parties, dances, tag days and door-to-door canvases helped to bring donations to the enterprise.

    Ten years later, the library collection was moved down the street to the King building, but because its roof leaked and the furnace was broken, volunteers moved the books to a temporary home on the second floor of the yellow brick borough building (now a parking lot).

    On May 24, 1958, California Public Library opened at its current site—the former Pennsylvania Railroad station, rented from the company for just $10 per month.

    But in June 1965, the Friday Evening Club (an incarnation of the Federation Club) published an open letter explaining that it could no longer support the library. In November, the community rejected a 1-1/2 mil tax referendum; on June 19, 1965, the library closed. Attempts to re-open the library floundered until June 15, 1975. A coalition of local citizens organized as Friends of the Library and accepted responsibility for helping to raise funds. Mary Hart was its president. Friends sponsored many community programs, including concerts, adult mini-courses, and even an amateur theatrical group directed by the late Robert Grimes and called The BareBones Players. The late June Mulé accepted the post of first Board of Trustees president.

    On July 18, 1979, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission notified California Mayor Peter J. Daley that the historic building had earned a place on the National Register. Borough workmen joined volunteers to restore what is now the Children’s community Room, thus increasing usable space.

    The next year, largely because of the unceasing efforts of Wyona Coleman, the Washington County Commissioners voted to establish the Washington County Library System. California Public Library promptly joined the fourteen-library coalition, thereby enabling the library staff to better serve the local citizenry through resource sharing.

    In the spring of 2013, the holdings of California and its sister libraries (including several libraries in Greene and Fayette counties) became searchable online through a union catalogue powered by Polaris. The funding for this project was supported by the proceeds from six years of "Off the Shelf", an annual fundraising dinner hosted by the Washington, Pa. law firm of Peacock, Keller.