Lompoc Public Library Receiving Prestigious Carnegie Corporation Grant

LOMPOC, Calif. (KEYT) - The Lompoc Public Library is receiving a prestigious grant that brings its history full circle.
The Carnegie Corporation is giving $10,000 grants to libraries this year.

“We are allowed to use it however will benefit the community and the library the most,” says Sarah Bleyl, library director for the City of Lompoc.

The City of Lompoc’s Public Library system has existed for 115 years, having first been opened here at the building which now houses the Lompoc Museum, courtesy of the same $10,000 Carnegie Corporation grant. 

“The library was important to the community back in 1910, when they got the grant from Carnegie,” says Bleyl.

The library moved to its current location at 501 E. North Avenue in 1968.

“I do know that when they were building this library, that people were upset that it was so far outside of town, if you can imagine that,” says Bleyl. “It was a little controversial because everything around us didn't exist back in 1968 when they picked this site.”

Andrew Carnegie called libraries the “cradles of democracy."

Lompoc’s public library director Sarah Bleyl says libraries have been adapting to the times in recent years, and that this grant will further bolster those adaptations.

“E-books are really popular,” says Bleyl. “So about, I don't know, 25% of our checkouts come from e-books and e-audiobooks. So even if you're not physically here at the library, you're still using the library. And we are busier than ever. So libraries aren't going anywhere.”

The grants come as the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence this year.

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