Placer County Board of Supervisors take action to permanently close Penryn Library

Published Sept. 26, 2023

The Placer County Board of Supervisors took action today to permanently close the Penryn branch of the Placer County Library. The Penryn Library has been closed since March 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and has remained closed due to on-going staffing challenges.

In March 2023, the Board of Supervisors directed the Library Services Department to deploy the library’s mobile services van throughout the spring and summer at various locations in Penryn, survey residents regarding their library needs, and report back the results at a future board meeting.  

Mobile stops were advertised via social media and physical flyers throughout the community but were not well attended. Staff assisted 123 visitors and checked out a total of 122 items over 27 library mobile stops from April 24 through Aug. 31.

Of Penryn’s 624 library card holders, 64% are inactive library users and data shows the remaining users are actively checking out materials from the Auburn and Rocklin libraries or downloading digital content through the library’s website and mobile applications.

“Closing a public library is always a difficult decision, but I am confident that Penryn residents are well served by seven excellent libraries within a 10-mile radius of Penryn including Placer County’s Auburn, Granite Bay and Rocklin libraries,” said Director of Library Services Mary George. “In the coming months, library staff will concentrate efforts on expanding hours in the Auburn and Rocklin libraries in the hope that this will provide even more library access to the Penryn community.”

Prior to the board’s unanimous 4-0 decision, Board and District 3 Supervisor Jim Holmes noted that the overarching goal within the county, via a recent library services study, is to maximize resources to keep cornerstone branches open daily, including weekends.

“You never want to close a library; however, our ultimate goal is to enhance our library services and in taking this action, we move a little bit closer to that great hope of being open six days a week, and maybe seven days a week,” Holmes said.