DATE: 09/17/2025
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Community Services Department
2025-363
REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL ACTION
SUBJECT:
GRANT FUNDING FROM THE CALIFORNIA STATE LIBRARY IN THE AMOUNT OF $15,840 FOR THE ZIP BOOKS PROJECT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
This staff report asks the City Council to accept and appropriate the California State Library Zip Books Grant to purchase books and an Amazon Prime membership. The Zip Books project provides patrons with access to books not in the library collection and enables the library to purchase books directly from Amazon and ship them directly to the patron’s home. The total grant award for Fiscal Year 2026 is $15,840.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
That the City Council:
a. Accept grant funding in the amount of $15,840 from the California State Library for the Corona Public Library’s Zip Books grant project through the California Library Services Act funds.
b. Authorize an appropriation and estimated revenue increase in the amount of $15,840 to the Community Services Department’s operating budget in the Library - Other Grants Fund 415.
c. Authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to amend the budget accordingly if the California State Library distributes additional funds to Zip Book grant participants.
BACKGROUND & HISTORY:
Zip Books began as a pilot project in 2011 and is funded by the California Library Services Act grant from the California State Library. Zip Books provides an additional purchasing option that is meant to give patrons access to books not owned by the library. A patron requests an item that is not currently in the collections, the library purchases it from Amazon, and the book is shipped directly to the patron’s home. When finished, the patron returns the book to the library, and under the discretion of library staff, the items are added to the collection.
This program allows patrons to participate in the development of our collection and has proven to be extremely popular with libraries and library users throughout the state over the past decade. In early 2022, the number of participating libraries expanded further to include 96 jurisdictions. In a recent two-year survey, over 95 percent of respondents gave the Zip Books project an overall “excellent” rating.
ANALYSIS:
Zip Books is a user-driven program and has helped the library collection grow to become more closely matched to the diverse needs of our local community. An example of this was the creation of a patron-curated collection to quickly meet the needs of the Arabic speaking community and have book titles available in Arabic. Zip Books allowed the library to purchase books in Arabic based on the request of patrons and garnered support for donations so the library could start an Arabic foreign language collection. The program helped highlight an unknown need in the community and directed the development of a better curated non-English language material collection.
The program is funded by the State of California and administered by the California State Library. The grant period is July 1, 2025, through August 31, 2026.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
Approval of the recommended actions will result in an appropriation and estimated revenue increase in the amount $15,840 to the Library Services operating budget within the Library - Other Grants Fund 415 for the Library Services Act Grant. These grant funds do not have a matching requirement. Grant funds must be fully expended in accordance with the City’s approved budget by August 31, 2026.
ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS:
This action is exempt pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the Guidelines for the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which states that a project is exempt from CEQA if the activity is covered by the commonsense exemption that CEQA applies only to projects that have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. Where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment, the activity is not subject to CEQA. This action is a financial transaction between the California State Library and the City of Corona, and there is not a possibility that adopting this resolution will have a significant effect on the environment. Therefore, no environmental analysis is required.
PREPARED BY: KATHERINE BACKUS, MANAGEMENT ANALYST I
REVIEWED BY: DONNA FINCH, COMMUNITY SERVICES DIRECTOR
ATTACHMENT:
1. Exhibit 1 – Zip Books Grant Award Letter