Grand Opening of New Desert Hot Springs Library

The new Desert Hot Springs Library finally opened its doors to the community. There was a grand opening ceremony on the morning of June 26.

Riverside County’s fourth direct supervisor, V. Manual Perez, said the library is a safe space for everyone.

“I think the library allows us to not only read the word, or write the word, or articulate the word, but then put it into context,” said Perez.

The new library is a modern 15,000 square foot building. It has private study rooms, community meeting rooms, public computers, a teen library space, and a children’s library space. There are over 31,000 materials in the library’s collection.

“It’s not just for my family, but the whole community really needed a library like this,” said Desert Hot Springs resident Michael Carmona. “The whole neighborhood is growing, so our old library was much smaller.”

The new Desert Hot Springs Library replaced the old 3,527 square foot library which was built in 1972.

“This is your library. This is a public space. This is ours,” said Perez. “The beauty of a library is that it provides us access and equity because it’s for everybody.”

The Desert Hot Springs Library is one of the three libraries built for the Riverside County Library System. The other libraries are in Menifee and French Valley.