Mead Valley Library

The inspiration

Mead Valley Library was built as a cornerstone investment in an unincorporated community south of Riverside and west of Perris, where school principals had called a library an important resource for students and their families^1,2 . Riverside County Supervisor Bob Buster described it as a place for growing students and for people looking for work, and the county built it as a LEED-certified green building with drought-tolerant landscaping to conserve water and save energy^1,2 .

Who's behind it

The library is part of the Riverside County Library System, which today includes 35 libraries and two museums across the county³ . It was championed by First District Supervisor Bob Buster and the County Economic Development Agency, and built by Stronghold Engineering as a design-build project that included a photovoltaic system^1,4 .

What to order

• The outdoor amphitheater: an unusual feature for a county branch library .¹
• The community room: built to seat large gatherings and available to reserve through the library .^4,5
• Two multipurpose rooms: part of the original project design alongside the parking areas on Oakwood Street .
• Self-checkout: included so visitors can move quickly with their books .^1,2

What people are saying

The Press-Enterprise also reported that principals in Mead Valley saw the library as a key investment for the community¹ .

Why you should try it

The building opened with a family-friendly community event on October 27, 2012, and it remains a spacious public library in a small valley community in the Inland Empire⁴ . If you are staying nearby, it is a comfortable place to read, study, work on a laptop or attend a program, with meeting rooms and a community space that anchors the neighborhood^5,1 .