The Pacific Grove Public Library Friends and Foundation helps ensure that our library is a thriving community center for discovery and lifelong learning.
Our Big Idea is to go beyond books at the Pacific Grove Public Library to help people learn and accomplish through Do-It-Yourself (DIY) projects, pursue creative hobbies, and work on Discover-It-Yourself (also DIY!) adventures as a group. We’ve heard from those short on cash, who’ve run out of ideas, unsure of where to begin, who are looking for encouragement or friendly makers to create and collaborate with. Our community includes a new generation of crafters, tinkerers, remodelers, entrepreneurs and other artistic types who want to learn how to do things on their own, as well as experienced residents with time and talents to share. We’ll put collaborative tools (some from PGPL’s new Library of Things), experiences, conversations and shared expertise in the hands of our community. With your help, DIY@PGPL will bring people together to open doors to personal fulfillment through discovery, exploration and creativity!
We help the Pacific Grove Library serve the diverse populations of Monterey County as a vibrant community center. This year the library hosted Watsonville’s Poet Laureate and Youth Poet Laureates for an evening of creativity; in collaboration with the Middlebury Institute, it hosted “Melodies of Verse: The Timeless Harmony of Arabic Poetry and Music”; and it recently welcomed a string quartet from the Bach Festival for an afternoon concert. These and other events have been packed with insight, creativity, and connection. People need welcoming places to gather, and accessible programs that are enlightening and hopeful.
The library’s materials and programs are free and open to everyone. In 2024, there were 61,609 visits to the library and 68,574 visits to its website! The library is historically important as well—it is the only library in Monterey County that was built with a Carnegie grant and still operates as a public library.
Public libraries are the mind, heart, and soul of healthy communities. The Pacific Grove Public Library has provided me with opportunities for creative inspiration and civic engagement since childhood, and I can think of no greater responsibility than paying that gift forward.
- Kent Leatham, Pacific Grove
