Residents will celebrate the 80th birthday of an institution on Saturday, Oct. 18, when county and city officials join neighbors to explore the roots of the Ocean Beach Library — the oldest in San Diego County. The Ocean Beach Library began as a grassroots literary effort nearly 100 years ago but was formally dedicated as part of the city’s library system in October of 1928. While the day belongs to the OB Library of today, organizers said the gala will be made richer because of the local origin of efforts to quench the thirst for knowledge beginning in 1909. The celebration, set to begin at 11 a.m., will feature historical reflections, speeches, music and activities for children, according to library officials. “This really is designed to help us remember what has gone into this facility,” said Matt Beatty, manager of the OB Library. “… It has been in use continuously since its dedication. Most longtime Obecians have grown up with it, and it’s very much a part of their everyday lives since so much of the rest of the local landscape has changed.” The event will kick off with the bluegrass sounds of the ZZmyzzy Quartet, which will begin performing at 11 a.m., followed by the formal ceremonies at noon and an introduction by Master of Ceremonies Ned Titlow, vice president of the Ocean Beach Historical Society. Local Girl Scouts will make a flag presentation, followed by addresses by several local and county officials. A magic show for children will begin at 1 p.m. inside the library, along with more music and a ceremonial tree planting, according to Beatty. The event will fete not only the birth and growth of the library at its current location at 4801 Santa Monica Ave. but also the efforts to extend literary outreach that began nearly two decades before. Titlow, who arrived in Ocean Beach in 1929 as a grammar school student, said historical records show a group of OB residents began a grassroots effort in 1909 to begin building wooden shelves at the first informal library site, known as the Sutcliffe Building, on Abbott Street near Santa Monica Avenue. This original site was near where the Ocean Beach lifeguard station now stands, said Titlow, 84. “It wasn’t necessarily ideal,” Titlow said. “There was a merry-go-round and skating rink there where they would play all this hurdy-gurdy music while people were trying to concentrate on reading.” According to historical records, the humble reading site took on more vigor in 1916, when Kate Spani, the principal of Ocean Beach Elementary School next door, led a charge for city backing and began leading the charge to raise funds to furnish the reading room. Titlow said the effort to formalize a library began in 1927, when the city purchased a 100-foot-by-100-foot lot at the current site on the corner of Santa Monica Avenue and Sunset Cliffs Boulevard. Records indicate the cost of the lot, building and furnishings was just under $19,000. “It was very popular right from the beginning,” said Titlow. “It was one of the community centers, not only as a library but for all kinds of get-togethers until after wartime (World War II). “I remember in grammar school when I started at Ocean Beach Elementary. Since we were right next door, the teachers would take us kids over to get our library cards,” he said. “And I still remember Margaret Rankin, the librarian. She was a dignified but lovely lady. She kept us respectful but happy.” Beatty confirmed Rankin’s lengthy tenure as head librarian in Ocean Beach from the 1920s until her retirement in 1959. Change is a constant, according to library officials, who are not only savoring the history and subsequent growth of the facility but also looking ahead. According to Beatty, the last expansion of the OB Library took place in 1966. Plans are now on the table for another renovation, but no formal funding has been allotted to move the project forward. “We’re hoping to move forward on this renovation,” Beatty said. “We just don’t know when yet. The plan was redone last year, and the city did purchase the property next to our current site for the renovation. But aside from the $1.5 million for the property, nothing else has been approved as yet.” For more information about the Ocean Beach Library’s 80th anniversary celebration, call the Friends of the Library at (619) 223-4900 or the library at (619) 531-1530, or visit www.sandiego.gov/public-library/locations.