AUGUST 2025 - Library Progress and Update: It's Been a Busy Month!

In July, the City Council awarded a construction contract to Swinerton Builders, we discovered our temporary location wasn’t quite move-in ready, and we hosted our Renovation Celebration Party, all in one eventful month!

We faced a few hiccups along the way, including power outages at Sunrise Park, AC breakdowns, and moving delays. But despite the setbacks, we are pushing forward every day. City departments, especially Public Works, have gone above and beyond to keep things on track. When the library lost electricity, they secured a generator large enough to keep us operational during one of the hottest months of the year. We’re incredibly grateful for their support.

Swinerton Builders is expected to receive their tentative “Notice to Proceed” around August 25, 2025. While many administrative steps remain, you will soon see construction fencing go up shortly thereafter.

Please note that the Main Library book return will stop functioning around August 11, 2025, as we begin removing computer equipment. We encourage you to hold onto your borrowed items until we reopen at our temporary location:

Rimrock Plaza, 4721 East Palm Canyon Drive, Suite A–E, Palm Springs, CA 92264.

If you must return items before then and the manual book return slot is accessible, you may use it, but expect delays as materials are transferred offsite. Once we have moved into Rimrock Plaza, a new book return will be installed on the sidewalk outside our temporary library.

We had a blast at our Summer Reading Grand Finale and Renovation Celebration Party! Ben & Jerry’s served up scoops, MIX 100.5 brought the tunes, Mr. & Mrs. Selfie gave us keepsakes, Arty Party dazzled with face painting, and Brian Sonia-Wallace created personalized poems for guests. One of the highlights was opening our 30-year-old time capsule from 1995. We were momentarily puzzled by a plastic shopping bag until someone reminded us how novel they were back then.

You can check out party photos at EngagePalmSprings.com. Special thanks to photographer David A. Lee for capturing the day! And don’t miss the exhibit wall at the library, where visitors shared heartfelt memories and messages.

While moving delays are never ideal, the silver lining is that our full-size library will stay open for three extra weeks. By the time you read this, we will be on the final countdown to our last day, August 8, 2025.

Again, we encourage you to come to the library, check out some great books, movies, music CDs, or popular magazines. We cannot wait to see you when we open our storefront location in Rimrock Plaza.

Happy August!

Meanwhile, if you’re interested in supporting the Palm Springs Public Library Foundation’s fundraising efforts or seeing your name featured in one of our new spaces, visit the Foundation’s website for more information. and to learn more about charitable gifts or legacy opportunities. It’s never too early to invest in the future of your library.