When David Bailey moved to Sahuarita about four years ago, he was content with what he found.
Great views of the Santa Rita Mountains. Year-round agreeable weather. Affordable homes.
But something was missing, something that every town should have, he said.
Sahuarita didn't have a library. The Boston-area native couldn't figure out why the growing community didn't have one of the most basic of civic institutions.
Bailey got busy, as did other book lovers who wanted to browse and check out books from a Sahuarita library, instead of the overcrowded library in Green Valley.
"I nagged everybody," said Bailey.
Friday they get their wish as the Sahuarita Branch Library opens to the public at 10 a.m. with a ceremony and reception. It will be the 27th branch of the Pima County Public Library.
People are also reading…
Last week, Amber Mathewson, manager of the Joyner-Green Valley Branch Library, was in the Sahuarita library, along with several other librarians, unpacking boxes of books and shelving the tomes.
"This community has been very excited for library service," said Mathewson who has been at the Joyner branch for five years.
The Sahuarita library will be housed in a 2,000-square-foot, temporary modular building which was remodeled, furnished and brought up to code at a cost of $200,000. The structure previously served as a portion of Sahuarita's town hall before the new municipal complex opened a year ago.
The modular building will house the library until a new and larger building is constructed. But no money or site has been identified for a new library, said Steff Koeneman, community relations manager for the Pima County Public Library.
If the county goes forward with a public bond sale, Koeneman said there could be money for a larger library.
Sahuarita's library will hold 5,000 books, a smaller number than other branches. But library patrons will be able to select books in the library system's "floating collection" by reserving them online or at the library.
"We call it a library on a shoestring," Mathewson said.
In addition, the library will have 12 computers for Internet use, compact discs and videodiscs for checkout. There is a children's reading room, two study rooms, a small meeting room for public groups and an office for staffers who will rotate from the Green Valley library.
The new library is behind the post office at 725 W. Via Rancho Sahuarita, on the south side of West Sahuarita Road.
Bailey, who is a member of the library's booster group, is critical of the lack of a permanent, larger library for Sahuarita.
He said a new larger library should have been included in the the municipal complex when it was designed and and built.
Sahuarita Mayor Lynne Skelton said the town's rapid growth was unpredicted, but the town remains committed, to work with the county to build a larger facility. She said the town had the foresight to secure a long-term lease from the property owner for $1 a year.
Skelton predicted residents will flock to use the library.
Mathewson welcomes new patrons to the Sahuarita library which will benefit the community. It will provide resources for residents and a place for students to do homework, she added.
Said Mathewson: "This will just whet the public's appetite for what the library can do for them."
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