Celebrating 15 Years of the

Walnut Creek Library

On July 17th, 2025, the downtown Walnut Creek Library celebrates 15 years since its opening. This building, which now serves over 300,000 visitors each year, became a reality thanks to the dedication and hard work of countless individuals and organizations, including the Walnut Creek Library Foundation. We are honored to enrich the experience at the Walnut Creek Library and look forward to supporting it into the future!

 

The Old Walnut Creek Library Opened in 1961 when Walnut Creek was seven times smaller in terms of population, the previous downtown Walnut Creek library had significant space, access, noise, safety, seismic and energy-efficiency problems. The building was approximately 9,000 square feet, and to add a book to the stacks, librarians had to remove one! As Walnut Creek grew, so did demand for the Library’s resources, eventually necessitating a much larger and more modern space to meet the needs of the almost 46,000 local library card holders.

 

Fundraising

While the City of Walnut Creek took the lead in funding the library project, the Walnut Creek Library Foundation worked tirelessly to raise $5.5 million in private donations toward the construction of the new library. Thanks to this contribution, all library spaces were outfitted with furniture, computers and other equipment to meet the community’s needs. In addition, the Friends of the Walnut Creek Library donated $100,000 earned from the sale of books and other materials at their used book store toward new books, CDs, DVDs and other materials for the new library.

 

Construction

In January 2007, the City Council approved a funding plan that allowed construction to begin. The old library was demolished on February 28, 2008, and the groundbreaking celebration followed in May. The construction team which consisted of the City of Walnut Creek, Group 4 Architecture, Gilbane Building Company and Thompson Pacific Construction worked together for more than two years to construct the beautiful building that stands at the corner of Broadway and Lincoln Avenue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check out an exclusive tour of the library under construction, led by the WCLF’s own Lorie Tinfow:

 

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

As part of the project budget, the City Council allocated $250K toward certification in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program.  Back then, LEED was very new and this direction demonstrated great leadership in terms of funding “green” building strategies.  Some of the “green” features included:

-Water efficient landscaping and plumbing
-Energy efficient heating, cooling and lighting
-A shower in the staff area to facilitate walking/biking to work
-Carpet made from recycled materials and that can be recycled again in the
future
– A raised flooring system for efficient heating and cooling

Ultimately, the Walnut Creek Library had enough “green” elements to receive a LEED Gold certification.

 

Opening Day

An astonishing 8,500 visitors attended opening day of the Walnut Creek Library on July 17, 2010. Today, the library meets the needs of more than 300,000 patrons annually, providing space and resources to work, read, learn, and play.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What’s next for the Walnut Creek Library?

We hear it all the time: “Why support the public library? I check out all my books online!” We’re here to tell you: the library is so much more than “a building with books!” As demonstrated by the construction of the downtown Walnut Creek library, demand for libraries and the resources they offer is higher than ever. The programs, educational opportunities, and safe spaces libraries provide to the public are irreplaceable and invaluable. As our community’s needs change, the Walnut Creek Library adapts to meet them.

As “third spaces” become increasingly rare, libraries remain essential as our “community’s living rooms,” where we can gather, learn, work, and play. The Contra Costa County Library’s 2024 strategic plan update ensures that all branches, including Walnut Creek, are providing the most critical services and resources in the most welcoming environments possible.

The Walnut Creek Library Foundation remains committed to this goal. For over 25 years, the Foundation has been supporting the libraries in Walnut Creek by providing supplemental funding so that the Walnut Creek and Ygnacio Valley Libraries have the facilities, programs, and materials the community needs. We are currently undertaking a refresh project at both branches and are hoping to implement a capital campaign for sorely needed upgrades to the soon-to-be 50-year-old Ygnacio Valley Library, and in the last two years, we have raised over $50,000 for the County’s e-collection, adding hundreds of titles to e-book platform Libby and significantly reducing wait times for popular titles–click here to learn more. 

The Walnut Creek Library Foundation hosts Live! From the Library, a regular series of free public lectures, literary events, and cultural programs. We fund countless programs created by Library staff to support the community, including wildlife programs, spaces for teens to create, yoga classes, and a monthly meetup for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities that provides opportunities to connect and engage in fun activities. We also support the Library’s literacy and outreach goals, including signing up every Contra Costa County third grader for a Library card.

The excellence of our libraries is one of many factors that makes Walnut Creek such a great place to live, play, learn, and do business. The last fifteen years have proven the Walnut Creek Library’s necessity and importance, and we can’t wait to see what the next fifteen will bring!

Supporters like you made the construction of the Walnut Creek Library possible. You can be an important part of the future of our libraries, too—donate today!