A year ago, the San Juan Ridge Community Library received a $20,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Nevada County. Today, that investment is paying off — for the library, for its head librarian, and for the community that depends on it.
Walk into the library this fall and you’ll find it busier than ever. September brought an indoor movie night complete with a shadow puppet show and soup, following a summer of outdoor Final Friday screenings. The library will host two Scary Story Walks and its Annual Dog Parade in October, where neighbors dress up their pets and walk them down a makeshift runway for prizes donated by the local feed store. Free classes continue as well: ukulele, qi gong, karate, and arts and crafts (featuring felted acorn necklaces for Fall), to name just a few. In addition to all the fun happening at the library, the organization continues to fill important community needs like the monthly “Health and Happiness” clinic, a partnership with Dignity Health that provides hospital and healthcare navigation assistance and behavioral health services.
None of this is new for Roo Cantada, the library’s founder and head librarian, who has spent the last 13 years building this community hub from the ground up. What’s new is that she’s finally able to focus more time on it. Cantada is the library’s HR department, fundraiser, event coordinator, and purchaser — nearly everything, with one part-time employee handling the front desk, custodial work, and dishes.
Before the grant, a significant share of Roo’s time went to keeping the doors open financially. The $20,000 grant provided flexible operating support to the San Juan Ridge Community Library, allowing the library to invest in Roo Cantada’s professional development. After 27 years of working as a librarian, Roo is pursuing a master’s degree in library science—training she says she could not otherwise afford on a rural librarian’s wages. She has completed her first year and is already applying what she’s learned, including new ways to measure the success of library programs and strengthen future grant applications. The community is feeling the ripple effects. With less time spent chasing dollars, Cantada has more capacity for events, classes, and the everyday work of running what she calls “a hub for everybody.”
She’s also begun thinking further ahead: she’s started an endowment fund and registered with the giving platform Pledge, and her capstone project will focus on designing the new, larger space the library has long outgrown.
“We just keep growing,” Cantada said. “It’s hard to grow within the confines of this building and this budget… We are outgrowing where we are.”
It’s a good problem to have — and one the Community Foundation is proud to help her navigate.