REEDLEY – After decades of work trying to expand the Reedley Library, community members saw their dreams turn to dirt — dirt that will eventually house the library’s new location.
Gathered just off the Reedley Parkway between 10th and 11th Streets, library volunteers, frequent patrons and elected officials officially broke ground for the new Reedley Library on Aug. 28. At the groundbreaking ceremony, Fresno County Librarian Sally Gomez said the new library is sure to be big enough to contain all the love the community has for it.
“The more than 52,000 books, CDs and other materials checked out at the Reedley Library last year alone, and over 36,000 visits, shows how much you love your library,” Gomez said to the Reedley community. “The feeling is mutual.”
Only a few blocks west of the library’s existing, 5,000-square-foot location, the new building will be significantly bigger, spanning nearly 14,000 square feet. Within all of this space, Gomez said library visitors will see expanded children’s programming, additional community events and more connections made.
The new library will feature a larger children’s section, a dedicated teen area, a study room and a multi-purpose community room equipped with a kitchenette. Fresno County Supervisor Buddy Mendes, who represents Reedley, said these additions will give young people a safe, positive place to study and, for adults, will provide more resources to build new skills and strengthen careers.
Mendes said the exterior of the new Reedley library, which will be a single story, reflects years of input from Reedley residents. Its location — officially 1813 11th St. — along the Reedley Parkway, also known as the Reedley Rail-Trail, and a major city parking lot will make it easily accessible for many.
Further, its proximity to the Reedley Museum, Kings Canyon Unified School District administration building, downtown Reedley and, of course, the Mid Valley Times newspaper office, will make it a natural gathering place for the community.
“The Reedley Library will be a place where imagination, learning and community come together,” KCUSD Superintendent John Campbell said in a statement to the Mid Valley Times. “Our students and their families will make good use of it for many decades to come.”
Reedley Mayor Matthew Tuttle said he is excited to see the library have the ability to meet the needs of today’s technology. Though the process to build a new library took decades, “greatness takes time,” he said.
The new Reedley Library is being built in conjunction with a new regional branch library in Clovis. Work on the designs was completed by Darden Architects, and Harris Construction will build both libraries. Construction on the Reedley Library is expected to begin in October, with the library open to the public at some point by early 2027.
The budget for the new library is $14.1 million, made possible through the Measure B eighth-cent sales tax dedicated to the Fresno County Public Library system. Voters first passed the measure in 1998 and in 2012 renewed it through 2029.
Journey to a new library
Beyond celebrating all the library’s future holds, the ceremony highlighted the work it took to get to this point. While Reedleyites will have to wait until early 2027 to read the library’s newest chapter, the anticipated construction timeline is short compared to how many years the community has been on hold, waiting for a new library.
“We know the community of Reedley is tenacious and dedicated, because it’s a community that came together, gained the support of the city and the county, and made this happen,” Gomez said.
The conversation around the need for a space larger than the library’s current home at 1027 E St. began in 1994, Friends of the Reedley Library President Carol Lopez Doerksen said. It took until 2003 for the group to begin seriously looking for a building or land to make that happen.
Lopez Doerksen said the late Leola Aalto, one of the founding members of the Friends of the Reedley Library, spearheaded the search, but after six months of trying to find a location, nothing had worked out. Aalto died just a few years later in 2006, leaving to the Friends of the Reedley Library a gift of $180,000.
With that money, along with other funds raised by the community, the Friends group and the city of Reedley were eventually able to purchase the property the library will be built on — a piece of land Aalto had looked into during her initial search.
“She wanted others to reap the benefits of her hard work and good fortune by helping to establish this new library,” Matt Wiebe, Aalto’s cousin, said at the groundbreaking ceremony. “It has been said that libraries are where lives begin and paradise is found, and they are crucial for a flourishing democracy. We all need to guard this well.”
Lopez Doerksen also recognized two past presidents of the Friends group, Paul Mitchell and Jim Leesch. Although Mitchell died in 2018 and Leesch in 2020, neither getting to see the fruits of their labor, Lopez Doerksen said they were both instrumental in the effort to build a new library.
Wiebe charged all of the event attendees to help tend to “this rare and valuable gift” of a new library by checking out one book a month.
“And to the parents and grandparents, you have the toughest job: you have to knock those phones out of those kids’ hands, drag them down to the library, get them a library card and let them discover the universe,” Wiebe said.
