CARLSBAD -- Forty years ago, Carlsbad built its first library building after decades of shuffling its book collection from one temporary location to another.

"People were so glad to have a real library," recalled Bobbie Hoder, a now-retired city employee who worked at the new library building for 17 years.

Starting Wednesday, library patrons can reflect on those long ago days by viewing a photo exhibit at the library, which is just east of City Hall at 1250 Carlsbad Village Drive. Also planned this month are library birthday craft projects on Dec. 11 and 12, and a Celtic music concert/birthday cake party on Dec. 16.

Carlsbad history archives indicate that the founding of the library's book collection dates from 1916 when loanable books were housed at a general store. From there, the library collection found space at the former Carlsbad Journal newspaper office, the former St. Patrick's Church building and the old Carlsbad Mutual Water Co. building.

In its final days before the books moved into the new building in November 1967, the collection was split between two buildings --- children's books occupied part of the old church building on Roosevelt Street while the adult collection was in a building where Bank of America stands on Carlsbad Village Drive today.

"I would drop my son off at his library and then I would go to my library," Hoder said, chuckling.

In those days, there was no space for educational displays, so a bakery on State Street allowed them to use a store window, then-library volunteer Pat Hansen recalls.

Georgina Cole, the director of the library at the time, campaigned tirelessly for the city to build a library and successfully won passage of a library construction bond at a time when bonds weren't easy to pass, Hoder said. Hoder was a member of the local Friends of the Library group during the campaign and went to work for the library the year after it opened.

"Georgina (Cole) had more foresight than any 10 people you'll run into," she said.

Cole contributed books and even her own money to the library, Hansen said. Initially a library volunteer, Hansen became a twice-a-week library employee after the new building opened. However, the city didn't initially fund her salary -- Georgina Cole paid it out of her own pocket for many years until the position became full-time, Hansen said.

The library director also was open to new ideas and allowed unusual performances in the library's community room.

"We had hippie musicians (for) one of the first programs," Hansen said, adding that they advertised the concert by putting posters up near the beach.

"We had like 300 people trying to get into the room, which we were supposed to have only 125 in," Hansen added. "That really set the tone of the library and the programs. They just built over the years from that."

When the new building opened, the city had 45,000 library books to put into it, and staff members recall that the 24,000-square-foot building looked pretty empty initially. Area museums, including the San Diego's Museum of Man, were allowed to use a vacant upstairs area for rotating exhibits that were popular with local schoolchildren, Hoder said.

Until 1999, when the city library on Dove Lane opened, the library next to City Hall was Carlsbad's only library. Once the new structure opened, the downtown library became the Georgina Cole Library in honor of the former library director's work.

The Cole Library's collection is now four times the size that it was when the library opened, said Jessica Padilla, the library's community coordinator. And it includes many items -- DVDs, CDS and digital audio books -- that didn't exist in 1967, she added.

Contact staff writer Barbara Henry at (760) 901-4072 or bhenry@nctimes.com.

Georgina Cole Library anniversary events:

- Starting Wednesday, historical photo exhibit opens. Trivia contest starts.

- Starting Dec. 10, library offers free notebooks honoring its 40th birthday to the first 2,000 patrons.

- 3:30 p.m., Dec. 11 and Dec. 12, the Youth Services program offers craft-making projects.

- 2 p.m., Dec. 16, library hosts a holiday concert featuring Celtic fiddler/singer Patric Petrie and Friends in the Community Room. Free birthday cake will be served.

For event information, call (760) 602-2012.