Mission Statement

The Lassen Library District conducts programs and provides services and resources that enable its patrons to acquire high-level literacy and life-long learning skills so they can make maximum use of the District's information resources, and those of any of the nation's libraries, to improve the quality of their personal and professional lives.

History of the Library

From 1915 to 1994 the Susanville area had been served by a county library. In 1994, the county library was closed when the Lassen County Board of Supervisors decided to stop support of the library due to fiscal contraints. Faced with the closure of their library, concerned Susanville citizens moved to establish an independent library special district.

The formation of the district was approved by the Lassen County Local Agency Formation Commission on August 10, 1994 and approved by 71.4 percent of Susanville voters on November 8, 1994. The first members of the Board of Library Trustees were sworn into office in January 1995 when the Board assumed library governance from the Susanville Municipal Public Library Board of Trustees. At the time of the district's formation its approved boundaries coincided with the city limits of Susanville.

The Susanville Library District acquired the collections and furnishings of the closed county free library from Lassen County and commenced operations on September 6 in the former county library’s location at Courthouse Annex on S. Roop Street. The library then moved into temporary quarters in an old furniture building at 911 Main Street until renovations were completed to their new facility.

The library moved into its current location at 1618 Main Street in February 1997.

The boundaries of the Susanville Library District were expanded via administrative application to the Lassen County Local Agency Formation Commission in September 2006 to encompass the entirety of Lassen County and the Board of Trustees approved in November 2006 changing the name of the District to Lassen Library District to better reflect the District's expanded area of operations.

Today, the Lassen Library District is striving to return extensive library services to all Lassen County citizens via the use of modern technology and a renewed effort to serve as a distribution center for the sharing of library resources with and between libraries.

Long-range Plan 2006 - 2010

A preliminary long-range plan for fiscal years 2006-2010 was developed during Board of Library Trustees meetings in May and June 2006 and was the basis upon which some fiscal year 2006-2007 initiatives were started. These initiatives included improvements to the library's conference room, expansion of public access computing (including establishing wireless computer access) and increased fund-raising and marketing efforts.

The long-range plan will be further refined and completed in conjunction with the budget planning process for fiscal year 2007-2008. A copy of the long-range plan will be available here when it is completed.