The Oxnard Public Library is a free

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

system operated by the City of Oxnard, California. It has three locations: the Downtown Main Library, the South Oxnard Branch Library, and the Colonia Branch Library.

History

Preface

The area, now known as the

Oxnard Plain The Oxnard Plain is a large coastal plain in southwest Ventura County, California, United States surrounded by the mountains of the Transverse Ranges. The cities of Oxnard, Camarillo, Port Hueneme and much of Ventura as well as the unincorpo ...

, was inhabited by

Chumash Indians The Chumash are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the central and southern coastal regions of California, in portions of what is now Kern County, California, Kern, San Luis Obispo County, California, San Luis O ...

. Juan Cabrillo, a visitor, reported to the Queen of Spain in 1542, described the area as the "land of everlasting summers". Approximately 50,000 Indians were in the vicinity. Then other European immigrants began to settle and farming became a major industry.

General

In 1978, the Colonia Branch Library opened. This library also provides services such as public computers, class visits, and special programs for all ages.

Local History Collection

The library possesses local newspapers on microfilm. Some of the newspapers are available on the library's online catalog, starting from 1900 to 1904 and 1954 to 1996. The ''Los Angeles Times'' is also on microfilm from 1972 to the present.

Carnegie Library

Shortly after the city of Oxnard incorporated in 1903, city leaders applied to philanthropist

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...

for funds to build a local library. In 1906, Carnegie’s Andrew Carnegie Foundation agreed to supply $10,000 to build the library. He later increased his donation to $12,000 after shortages in supplies and labor due to the

San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 AM Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensit ...

. Architect

Franklin Pierce Burnham Franklin Pierce Burnham (October 30, 1853 – December 16, 1909) was an American architect. He is best known for his collaborations with Willoughby J. Edbrooke, especially the 1889 Georgia State Capitol. Burnham was also named the Kenilworth Comp ...

of Los Angeles designed the building in a Neo-Classical style featuring pedimented porticos supported by Doric columns. . The original library building, vacated by the library in 1963, was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1971 and became the Carnegie Art Museum in 1986.

Expansions

The main downtown library was moved from the Carnegie building to a larger facility in 1963 and then again in 1992. In the mid to late 20th century, the library expanded services throughout the city of Oxnard. First by offering bookmobile service (1956-1989) then by opening additional branch locations. The main library moved to a second location in the corner of C and second streets in 1963. South Oxnard Branch opened in 1989 which then moved into the new facility in 2007. Colonia Branch, a small neighborhood branch, opened in 1978.

Community

Services

Oxnard Public Library

* The Downtown Main Library is one of their three locations, including public computers with free internet access available for free with a one-hour time limit. Age-oriented programs include story-times for children, a baby/toddler story-time and story-time for 3 to 5-year-olds. * South Oxnard Branch Library The South Oxnard Library hosts story-times for kids and other for-youth services.. * Colonia Branch Library The Colonia Branch Library is open from Monday to Thursday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Resources and databases

Patrons have access to local and regional newspapers and databases to which the library subscribes. Volunteers provide free one-on-one tutoring those over the age of 18.

Carnegie Oxnard Public Library

The Carnegie Oxnard Public Library, now the Carnegie Art Museum (424 South C St) was built and opened in 1906 under a $12,000 Carnegie grant. It was a functioning library until 1963. and was renovated and reopened in 1980 as the Carnegie Art Museum.

Passport services

Oxnard became the 4th US library to offer passport services.

References

External links

* {{coord, 34.20094, -119.17893, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-CA, display=title Public libraries in California Buildings and structures in Oxnard, California Education in Oxnard, California Libraries in Ventura County, California