Residents of Murray acknowledge their independent streak. After all, Murray is a small city which sits smack dab in the center of Salt Lake County…yet has its own library system, school district, recreation center, power and water. Heck, it even has its own hashtag #wearemurray. Why?

Reasons are varied, some are a little mysterious, and most are steeped in history. The Murray Journal will take a look at this independent streak through a series of articles called: Independent Murray, starting with the Murray City Library System.

There are three library systems in the Salt Lake Valley. The Salt Lake County Library system has 18 full-service libraries. The Salt Lake City Public Library system has nine branch libraries within Salt Lake City limits. And then there’s the Murray Library, with one branch. No other Wasatch Front cities have their own system.

“It’s a Murray thing,” Murray City Library Director Kim Fong said with a chuckle, acknowledging she doesn’t know the exact reason Murray has stayed independent. “Murray likes to do things on their own.” 

“And here’s an interesting fact,” Fong continued. “The library building sits on Murray School District land and is leased to the library for one dollar, under the stipulation that the Murray City Library cannot join the county system.” 

However, the library systems do play nicely together, she reinforced. In that they have a three-way reciprocal borrowing agreement. Anyone in the county can get a Murray library card and access to Murray materials. Vice versa, county and city materials are available for Murray residents, if they apply for a free city or county card.

“It’s actually a good thing for residents because we are the taxing authority for the Murray Library. Murray residents don’t pay for the county libraries, and they pay less annually in Murray for library services,” said Doug Hill, Murray City’s chief administrative officer in the mayor’s office. “Yet they still have access to county materials.”

Library history

Though tiny, the Murray City Library is older than the county library system. The Murray Library was founded in 1911, and money for the construction of the first library was donated by Scottish-American steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. The original building, which opened in 1912, was located on Vine Street, eventually became part of the Mount Vernon Academy and has since been demolished. 

By contrast, the county library system was founded in 1938.

Murray did have a second branch, for a time, located where the Senior Rec Center is now, but both early libraries closed in 1992, when the new (and existing) library was opened at 166 E. 5300 South. The new library is about three times the size of the two older facilities combined.

Side note, the Salt Lake City Public Library system is the oldest in Utah, as might be expected, opening over 125 years ago on the top floor of the Salt Lake City and County Building. The first dedicated city library building was built just south of the Alta Club on State Street and opened in 1906. The building later became the Hansen Planetarium, and is currently the O.C. Tanner flagship store.

Murray general history 

Per the www.murray.utah.gov website, the Mormon pioneers came to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. A pioneer group called the Mississippi Saints arrived, just one year later, and began to develop a scattered settlement in the south end of the valley in the fall of 1848.

The area remained agricultural until 1869 when a body of ore was found in Park City and additional ore was found in the Little Cottonwood Canyon. Because of its central location and access to the railroad, the first smelter was built in Murray in 1870 and Murray became the home of some of the largest smelters in the region over the next 30 years.

The City received its present name from the post office, which officially changed its name from the South Cottonwood Post Office to the Murray Post Office in 1883, after the territorial governor and civil war general, Eli Murray.

Murray incorporated and was recognized as a city on Jan. 3, 1903.

“Murray’s independent nature probably came about because it was a population center far removed from Salt Lake City,” Hill said. “Because the men who worked in the smelters stirred up trouble, and in order to feel safe, citizens needed police protection. And probably because they were far from the city they also wanted their own library.”

The numbers

The library footprint in Murray is 19,599 square feet, all in the one building. The county system has 18 branches, the largest being 33,000 square feet. The other county branches are likely an average of about half that, totaling well-over 300,000 square feet of library space.

There are about 43,000 card holders in Murray. In contrast, there are about 900,000 county residents (this number does not include any Salt Lake City or Murray residents) and 70% of these residents have an active library card (that’s about 630,000 for anyone who’s counting).

When questioned about such a high percentage of active county patrons, Sara Neal, marketing and communications manager of Salt Lake County Libraries, said, “Let’s just say people love and use the library.” Of note, Neal is a Murray resident and also holds a Murray Library card. Additionally, she holds a city library card and regularly uses all three to easily secure materials.  

Murray boasts nearly 62,946 physical items and over 30,000 electronic items, so nearly 100,000 items. The county has about 2 million items in the system, including physical and electronic, but it changes constantly as new items are introduced and older items are retired.

The annual budget for Murray is $2.6 million, for the county $50 million.

The Murray library budget comes from a dedicated library levy, is paid through property taxes and does not receive any sales tax revenue. In Murray, the median library levy per household is $94 per year. In the county, the library is also funded via property tax and county residents pay about $149 per year, based on an average home cost of $560,000.

About 30% of Murray patrons live outside of Murray. The county doesn’t track how many Murray residents hold county cards.

Value of an independent library to Murrayites

“The Murray City Library is a benefit to the residents of Murray, because we can focus our service to our citizens. Residents enjoy shorter wait times for materials and often comment on the excellent customer service they receive here,” Murray City Library director Fong said. “We place an emphasis on purchasing items that are specifically requested by our patrons and keep an eye on hold times. Because we are small, we can pivot more quickly to provide new services, try innovative ideas, and make quick adjustments when needed.”

“The best government is the government closest to the people. People say they know they are in Murray because it’s better managed,” Hill said, noting he has worked in Murray for over 27 years. “You won’t find it on paper, but with snow removal and so on, we are more responsive and focused on our citizens. You can call someone and they will answer the phone and help you solve your issue.” λ