Carpinteria to Celebrate New Library Status
California’s Oldest Branch Library Leaves Santa Barbara System to Form Municipal Library
As Carpinteria plans a big party for this Saturday to celebrate its new municipal library, some good news came on Tuesday, when the Board of Supervisors approved a 3.8 percent increase in library funding from the County of Santa Barbara. Both bits of news are a welcome contrast to the recent history of acrimony among the South County libraries.
Opened in 1910, Carpinteria’s is the oldest branch library in California, and it operated under the umbrella of its parent Santa Barbara city library system until June 30 of this year. Carpinteria Library Director Jody Thomas explained why the separation took place, saying, “It didn’t come about in order to save money, but to have more autonomy in the operations, direction, and strategic plans for the future.”
Another former branch library — Goleta’s — gave much the same reasons when it left the Santa Barbara system in 2017, also taking the Buellton and Solvang branches with it. Carpinteria and Montecito libraries are having conversations about linking together, although the funding needs to be worked out, said Pat Saley, president of the Friends of the Montecito Library fundraising nonprofit.
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