W. Anne Gibson-Esmond Station Library is located at 10931 E. Mary Ann Cleveland Way in Vail, AZ. The Library serves residents of the greater Vail area, including Corona de Tucson, Vail, and Rita Ranch.
This Library opened on Tuesday, February 16, 2021.
The Library is located in the Esmond Station Regional Park. Given the historical importance of the area, this name honors Vail’s past, present, and future.
This location honors the region not only in name, but through public artwork created by local metal artist, Troy Neiman. The artwork, entitled Pages of History—a 45-foot-long screen cut from steel plate—features a timeline of Vail history, local culture, and desert plants and animals.
The 8,000-9,000 square foot library, designed by BWS Architects, features a meeting room that opens to the outdoors and movable shelving and furniture to create flexible spaces that can be adjusted to meet the needs of customers. Furnishings promote community gathering and provide a sense of neighborhood living. Connected by trailhead to the Esmond Station Regional Park, the building is within walking distance of Empire High School and Esmond Station K-8.
The Esmond Station Library addresses the needs of the community in a variety of ways, including but not limited to providing access to library materials for homework support, a cutting edge information commons, programming for education, workforce development, and connected learning dedicated to Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) programming.
The Library's namesake, W. Anne Gibson, who goes by Anne Gibson, is a well-known community member and a tireless champion of bringing the library to the greater Vail area. She is also the President and Co-Chair of the newly formed Friends of the W. Anne Gibson-Esmond Station Library. Gibson served on the Vail School District Governing Board from 1999 to 2010. She is a guest writer for The Vail Voice and is the Facilitator for Vail Serves Vail. In 2008, she was the recipient of the Vail School District Heart of Vail Award.
According to a January 2020 article in The Vail Voice:
On a recent afternoon over 100 people from across Vail gathered to honor Anne Gibson on her 80th birthday. Someone asked the question: how many of you have served on a committee with Anne? Almost every hand in the room went up! It is likely that most every person who raised a hand was a happy victim of an arm-twisting request by Anne to serve on a committee... She has always had a vision of bettering the Vail community.
Upon the official naming of the Library for Anne Gibson, Edward Buster, Library Advisory Board Member and Vice President of the Friends of the W. Anne Gibson-Esmond Station Library, said,
Anne Gibson is an incredibly strong, uncompromising, selfless, timeless, and passionate woman. Over the past eight decades, she has been a tireless advocate for every person and demographic in the Vail School District, serving on countless boards and committees, robustly dedicated to the communities of the Greater Vail area and throughout Southeast Pima County.
Over the course of 12 years, Anne relentlessly championed the cause of providing a library for the common good of everyone in the District. She painstakingly networked, advocated, influenced, mentored, and inspired, every major benevolent group, organization, and leader throughout Pima County through her unbridled commitment to making every life better. Our communities’ first library broadcasting the name of this timeless matriarch is a testament to Anne’s boundless legacy and serves to inspire countless future generations to serve others, do well, give often and unconditionally.
