Athens County Public Libraries

Athens County Public Libraries
Established	1935
Location	Athens County, Ohio
Coordinates	39°20′04″N82°05′02″W / 39.334521°N 82.084007°W Coordinates: 39°20′04″N82°05′02″W / 39.334521°N 82.084007°W
Branches	7
Collection
Size	300,000
Other information
Director	Nick Tepe [1]
Website	www.myacpl.org

Last updated October 05, 2019

The Athens County Public Libraries are a consortium of seven public libraries located in Athens County, Ohio. The library system was originally known as the Nelsonville Public Library. The original facility in Nelsonville was created in 1935 as an outgrowth of the Nelsonville school system.^[2]

A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also civil servants.

Athens County is a county in southeastern Ohio. As of the 2010 census, the population was 64,757. Its county seat is Athens. The county was formed in 1805 from Washington County. Because the original state university was founded there in 1804, the town and the county were named for the ancient center of learning, Athens, Greece.

Nelsonville is a city in northwestern York Township, Athens County, Ohio, United States. It is 60 miles southeast of Columbus. The population was 5,392 at the 2010 census. It is the home town of Hocking College.

The Internet is the global system of interconnected computer networks that use the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to link devices worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of private, public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope, linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless, and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries a vast range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents and applications of the World Wide Web (WWW), electronic mail, telephony, and file sharing.

Recently, the library system has begun a landscaping program at its libraries to introduce a wider variety of plantings, especially including native trees and shrubs.

History

Before the establishment of the county library the Works Progress Administration maintained twenty library stations throughout the county. These libraries usually consisted of small collections and untrained staff, but demonstrated a need in the county for a dedicated public library.^[4]

Works Progress Administration United States federal New Deal agency charged with creating work in the 1930s and 1940s

The Works Progress Administration was an American New Deal agency, employing millions of job-seekers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads. It was established on May 6, 1935, by Executive Order 7034. In a much smaller project, Federal Project Number One, the WPA employed musicians, artists, writers, actors and directors in large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects. The four projects dedicated to these were: the Federal Writers’ Project (FWP), the Historical Records Survey (HRS), the Federal Theatre Project (FTP), the Federal Music Project (FMP), and the Federal Art Project (FAP). In the Historical Records Survey, for instance, many former slaves in the South were interviewed; these documents are of great importance for American history. Theater and music groups toured throughout America, and gave more than 225,000 performances. Archaeological investigations under the WPA were influential in the rediscovery of pre-Columbian Native American cultures, and the development of professional archaeology in the US.

On June 1, 1935 the idea for a public library was conceived under the name The Public Library for the City of Nelsonville and Athens County. Staff from the WPA were the first librarians and various organizations and townspeople donated books to first fill the shelves. In September 1935 around a thousand books were borrowed from the State Traveling library and in December $200 donated from the State Aid for Libraries fund. Still spread across multiple WPA libraries, the entire collection moved to Washington street in 1936 allowing the hiring of a trained librarian, and the cataloging of the books under one roof.^[4]

A traveling library is a collection of books lent for stated periods by a central library to a branch library, club, or other organization or, in some instances, to an individual. The chief characteristics from which it derives its name are its temporary location in the place to which the collections of books is sent and the implication that any traveling library will or may be changed for another collection of books. A bookmobile is an example.

By 1939 the library moved again and began converting the old library stations (now unused) into branch libraries. By the end of 1939 the system consisted of one library with two branches and five deposit stations. A bookmobile was also started with county budget funds which visited the county schools. In 1940 the Athens branch opened in a part of the city previously serviced by the University system.^[4]

During the 1970s through 1990s an addition three library branches were opened throughout Athens. These were the Wells library, the Coolville library, and The Plains library. With their inclusion the size of the system grew to its current seven branches.^[4]

Starting in 2013 the library system successfully received $17,400 in funding to begin offering bikes for student use. The program, "Book-a-Bike" allows students with a library card an alternative to taking the bus or walking to school.^[5]

Branches

Today, the library system consists of these seven branches:

Related Research Articles

Athens is a city and the county seat of Athens County, Ohio, United States. Athens is most widely known as the home of Ohio University, a large public research university with an enrollment of more than 36,800 students across all campuses. Located along the Hocking River in the southeastern part of Ohio about 65 miles (105 km) southeast of Columbus, Athens is the principal city of the Athens, Ohio Micropolitan Statistical Area. The official population of Athens in the 2010 U.S. Census was 23,832, with a daytime population of over 40,000

Coolville is a village located in Troy Township, Athens County, Ohio, United States, in the southeast area of the state. The population was 496 at the 2010 census.

Jacksonville is a village in Athens County, Ohio, United States. The population was 481 at the 2010 census.

Buchtel is a village in Athens and Hocking counties in the U.S. state of Ohio, just northeast of Nelsonville. Located in the Hocking Valley, it was a center of coal mining in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The population was 558 at the 2010 census. A former name for the village is Bessemer.

The Hocking River is a 102-mile-long (164 km) right tributary of the Ohio River in southeastern Ohio in the United States.

Bookmobile vehicle with a library onboard

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Cleveland Public Library, located in Cleveland, Ohio operates the Main Library on Superior Avenue in downtown Cleveland, 27 branches throughout the city, a mobile library, a Public Administration Library in City Hall, and the Ohio Library for the Blind and Physically Disabled. The library replaced the State Library of Ohio as the location for the Ohio Center for the Book in 2003.

The Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML) is a public library system in Franklin County, Ohio, in the Columbus metropolitan area. The library serves an area of 872,000 residents, has a collection of 1,483,433 volumes, and circulates 17,262,267 items per year.

The Marathon County Public Library (MCPL) is a consolidated county library with nine locations in Marathon County, Wisconsin, U.S.A. Its headquarters are in Wausau. The library has its origins in the Wausau Free Public Library, which was founded in April 1907 and later became the site of the consolidated library system.

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Shade is an unincorporated community in southern Lodi Township, Athens County, Ohio, United States. Although it is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 45776. It lies along U.S. Route 33.

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Throughout history, Volusia County Public Libraries were often started by women's clubs or associations which supported the library though memberships. They were often very small and located in small rooms in city halls or community centers. The collection consisted of second hand books donated from the citizens and there were not many professional librarians to run the facilities. Charlotte Smith, the head librarian at Stetson University, organized the Volusia County Public Library program in the year 1949 in an effort to upgrade libraries countywide. In the early 1950s in Florida, 200,000 people had no access to library services and only a quarter of the population had adequate service.

References

↑ Guinn, Sarah (July 9, 2016). "Athens County Library System to welcome new director this fall". The Athens Messenger. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
↑ "About Your Library". Athens County Public Libraries. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
↑ "Athens Travel Guide" . Retrieved 13 July 2015.
1 2 3 4 "A brief history of Athens County's public libraries". ACPL. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
↑ Campbell, Maggie (March 16, 2017). "Athens Public Libraries provide free alternative transportation for students". The Post. Retrieved 18 September 2017.

External links

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[1] Guinn, Sarah (July 9, 2016). "Athens County Library System to welcome new director this fall". The Athens Messenger. Retrieved 18 September 2017.

[about-2] "About Your Library". Athens County Public Libraries. Retrieved 18 September 2017.

[3] "Athens Travel Guide" . Retrieved 13 July 2015.

[history-4] 1 2 3 4 "A brief history of Athens County's public libraries". ACPL. Retrieved 18 September 2017.

[5] Campbell, Maggie (March 16, 2017). "Athens Public Libraries provide free alternative transportation for students". The Post. Retrieved 18 September 2017.