On Sunday, December 7, 2025, from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m., the Palm Springs Public Library will host a community celebration marking 100 years of providing library services, and everyone is invited! The event will feature a selfie booth, music, a historical photo display, special commemorative giveaways, and of course, cake! The celebration will take place at the Library’s temporary Rimrock Plaza location located at 4721 E. Palm Canyon Drive. 

“This is quite a milestone,” said Jeannie Kays, Director of Library Services. “We are proud of the Library’s legacy and its impact on the City of Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley.”

The Palm Springs Public Library began in a small outbuilding known as Alliene’s Library, next to a church, and occupied as many as a dozen different locations before the City of Palm Springs incorporated and received a land donation from the son of Welwood Murray for its first permanent public library building. The Welwood Murray Memorial Library opened in 1941 and served as the main library until the new, larger facility, designed by renowned architect William F. Cody, opened in Sunrise Park on December 7, 1975

Throughout its history, the Library has played a pivotal role in shaping services across the Coachella Valley. It helped establish several local libraries throughout the Valley; was instrumental in the forming of the Palm Springs Historical Society and Channel 17 Community Television; and became the first public Library in the United States to serve as a Passport Acceptance Agency, just to name a few of the Library’s many notable firsts and accomplishments.

During the Library’s current two-to-three-year renovation and restoration, services are being provided at the temporary Rimrock Plaza location at 4721 E. Palm Canyon Drive, at the corner of Gene Autry Trail and Palm Canyon Drive, next door to Vons.

For more information about the Library call 760-322-READ (7323) or visit www.pslibrary.org. Follow the Library on Facebook, Instagram, and Engage Palm Springs, and sign up online to receive our monthly e-Newsletter.                                                                                          

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