Mission Statement of the Ada Community Library

"Dreams, Ideas and Information"

The Ada Community Library is committed to providing a broad range of library materials and services; offering personalized assistance for all community residents; encouraging early literacy and life-long learning; and increasing cooperation and resource sharing among area libraries.

Who We Are

The Ada Community Libraries provide beautiful, dynamic settings for browsing and checking out books but we are much more than lending libraries. Here patrons can also find high speed Internet access and Microsoft Office applications, computer instruction, homework help, literacy and language instruction materials, readers advisory service, reference information and personalized assistance using print and online sources, public catalog with access to millions of items and more than 1,000 journals accessed online both in-house and from home or office. Children can participate in story hours, art and music programs, after-school events and summer reading programs, play computer learning games, or just socialize with other children in our developmental play areas.

Special events for the general public range from special holiday presentations, topical programs, music programs and book discussion groups. The meeting rooms at Victory Branch and Star Branch are available to the public and can be reserved by calling the library.

As a system of lending libraries, ACL's collection has grown from 12,000 items when the library opened in 1989 to over 160,000 items at the present time. In addition to a wide variety of books, the library offers DVD movies and documentaries, music CDs, fiction and non-fiction books on CD , video games and much more. Remote access to online resources, e-books and downloadable e-audiobooks for children and adults makes library materials accessible 24/7.

History

The Ada Community Library District was established in 1984 by a vote of residents in Ada County who were not already served by a municipal library or public library district. The Victory Branch Library opened in SW Boise in January 1989, the Star Branch Library in NW Ada County in January 1989, and the Hidden Springs Branch Library in a planned community north of Boise in October 2000. The library district joined the LYNX! Consortium in 1999, sharing an online library catalog and materials with other Treasure Valley and Magic Valley public libraries.