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Murphys Library is beautifully situated overlooking Murphys Community Park, across the way from the Veterans Memorial.
Parking is readily available at the library, or the public lot next to the Murphys Creek Theatre. Main Street is easily accessible by foot.
The library has served the town of Murphys in various locations since the 1960s. Over the years, the collection has been housed in a pharmacy, an art gallery, and a 20'x20' storefront on Main Street. The building which currently houses the Murphys Volunteer Library was completed in 2001 thanks to a huge outpouring of support from the community.
History: In 1985 cuts in the county budget resulted in four Calaveras library branches being closed: Mokelumne Hill, Railroad Flat, Sheep Ranch, and Murphys. The Murphys branch was closed from August through December that year. Our librarian, Jean Kirkpatrick, was steadfast in her belief that Murphys must have a library. Her passion, combined with that of several leaders in the community (including Mearl Lucken, Doris Barger, Ben Smith, and Russ Shoemaker) resulted in the creation of the Murphys Volunteer Library, Inc. and a board of directors dedicated to ensuring that Murphys would have a library.
On January 2, 1986 the library reopened in a tiny location on Main Street, staffed solely by volunteers - the first all volunteer library in the state of California. Jean Kirkpatrick was joined by volunteers Ruby Tenbrink and Barbara Cannon to keep our library open. With Murphys Volunteer Library, Inc., the community rallied to raise funds to provide for operating costs and to build a new facility to house the collection (as the rented space on Main Street was badly in need of repairs: it has since been remodeled and is occupied today by Nelson's Candy Company).
Many in the community came together to build our library. Native Daughters of the Golden West made very generous donations in honor of Jean Kirkpatrick who passed away in 1992. The Murphys Community Club purchased land which it then donated to the county for the library site on Algiers - John Campbell (architect) and Al Tunsen (builder) were instrumental in that transaction. Pam Shoemaker also played a vital role in construction: newly elected as President of the Board, she was responsible for the hard work behind the scenes to raise funds, hire contractors, and recruit volunteers to get the job done!
In May of 1995 - 10 years after county budget cuts led to the creation of the Murphys Volunteer Library, Inc. - the library opened in its current location. In that decade, the library remained open wholly through the dedication of volunteers and community support. In 1998, Calaveras County hired a branch assistant for Murphys, and has continued its support of the library within the county system since then.
The spirit of community remains strong, and we welcome anyone interested in volunteering at Murphys Library.
Murphys Volunteer Library is always looking for interested individuals who can commit time, energy, and expertise to its front desk staff or serve on the board of directors.
Be a part of the community!
Please contact us at contact@murphyslibrary.org for more information
A long long time ago on a dark and stormy night Kristine was born! Actually, it might have been a nice day. Growing up in Oakland, CA provided opportunities for little Kristy to ride her bike to the local brick and ivy covered library near her house. She loved exploring the card catalog and her fascination and love of books has never ended. After graduating and receiving her teaching credential from Sonoma State University she attempted to find a job in the teaching field which was very difficult at the time because of an overabundance of teachers.
She took a break and had two children - some break! Realizing her life was not complete she accepted a job in 1984 at an elementary school teaching in a very small (8 Apple IIe) computer lab. It wasn't easy because she didn't have a computer (they were still fairly new) but she struggled through and taught herself and took several classes. Seventeen years later after helping the lab grow to 32 networked Macintosh computers she finally graduated from elementary and moved to a high school to become the Library Media Teacher. She received her Masters in Library and Information Technology from San Jose State University.
After 8 years of working in at the high school library, she retired to beautiful Murphys. Again she found her life not complete and volunteered for over 2 years at the San Andreas library until accepting the position here at the Murphys Library. Happily married to her sweetheart she loves her job but hopes to travel to exotic places in the future.
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