Livin' the life of Riley

Two weeks after learning Roseville's newest library will borrow her name, Martha Riley can't quite get used to the idea."The realization is not there yet," Riley said. "We've been calling it the Mahany Library for so long, it's just not going to flow off anybody's lips for a while."Roseville City Council members on April 4 unanimously voted to name the facility, under construction at Mahany Park in West Roseville, the Martha Riley Community Library.Officials estimate the 31,000-square-foot center could be completed by November. When finished, it will also include a Utility Education Center and a new home for the city's public access television station.The naming is a fitting tribute to the 72-year-old Riley, a former Roseville City Council member and a founding member of the Friends of the Roseville Public Library, said City Librarian Dianne Bish.Riley, she noted, was influential in keeping the new library on the front-burner, attending City Council meetings to remind officials the project was long promised to residents. After years in the planning stages and delays related to funding shortfalls, the project finally broke ground in 2005."I think she's been a long-time civic benefactor to all of Roseville," Bish said. "In her last few years she's served as president of Friends and in her heart of hearts has pushed for this library for a long time."City Council member Gina Garbolino agreed."Sometimes you don't get to something as quickly as you want to, and Martha, in a very strong way, reminded us of our promise that we should be concentrating on getting that library up and going," she said.But Riley's activism for the new facility is just one effort in a lifetime steeped in libraries. When she first moved to Roseville in 1966, Roseville's library facilities consisted of the Carnegie Library - now the Roseville Historical Society's Carnegie Museum - and the traveling Bookmobile. "Friends" helped find funding and support to build what would become the Downtown Library, which was completed in 1975. "Martha is such an outgoing person, and it's because of a lot of her leadership we're able to get these things accomplished," said fellow founding Friends member Lenore Batiste. "It also takes rallying people to the cause, gathering people who are interested, and she's good at that."Riley, a mother of five and grandmother of nine, said her love for libraries started at a young age."You can find anything in a library," said Riley, a retired state worker who shelved books in high school and college. "It's the one thing in a community for everybody, and it's free."So, what does the namesake for Roseville's newest library like to read?"English mysteries," said Riley, who's a member of several book groups. "But not gore and mayhem mysteries." As for her favorite book, try two: John Steinbeck's "East of Eden," and "The Cheerful Cherub," a class book of children's verse by Rebecca McAnn. While she waits for the new library to be built, Riley has more immediate concerns - like staging another Friends of the Library used book sale, the biannual event that helps bring in the nearly $20,000 the group gives to support Roseville library programs and acquisitions each year. The next event is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday at the Civic Center, 311 Vernon St. And she flinches at taking too much credit for the library that bears her name."You don't actively go after that," she said of the naming honor. "Everyone in this city, who has parks named after them or something, they didn't do it because they wanted their name on something. They did it as a labor of love."