El Dorado County Library - Georgetown Library

History

The history of the Georgetown Branch is bound up with the founding of the El Dorado County Free Library. When the Friends of the Library was organized in Placerville for the purpose of establishing a county library, Mrs. Verne Allen came to ask for support from the Mother's Club of the Georgetown School, of which I was president. As the representative from Georgetown, I went to a meeting in Placerville, attended by about eight people, including State Senator Swift Berry and a charming young consultant from the State Library. '"What's in this for Georgetown?' I asked her. "A branch", she replied, "if you will find rent-free quarters, preferably on Main St., provide the furnishings and man it on a voluntary basis."

After the county supervisors were persuaded to approve the county library project by an appearance en masse of the Friends, which overflowed the supervisors' room and the hallway of the old courthouse, I began the search for library quarters in Georgetown. After some months of deliberation, Mrs. Lempi Kivi-aho agreed to donate a part of her front room in the Armory. She also donated a wooden screen and a huge desk; the Georgetown Rotary Club made shelving and in December 1948 we were ready to open. However, Mrs. Bertha Hellum, the brilliant librarian who organized the county system, wished to have the first branch open at Coloma, as part of the Centennial Celebration, so Georgetown became the second branch of the system. It was open two hours a day, three days a week. I supervised and did the clerical chores but involved a number of women in voluntary service.

Library Hours:

Tuesday 12pm – 7pm

Wednesday 12pm – 7pm

Thursday 10am – 5pm

Friday 10am – 5pm

Saturday 10am – 3pm

Closed Sunday & Monday