Brooklyn Public Library | |
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40°40′20″N73°58′05″W / 40.672359°N 73.968146°W | |
Location | Brooklyn, New York City |
Established | 1896 |
Branches | 61 |
Collection | |
Size | 5,045,500 items |
Access and use | |
Population served | 2,565,635 |
Other information | |
Director | Linda E. Johnson (2010–present) |
Website | bklynlibrary |
The Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) is the public library system of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is the sixteenth largest public library system in the United States by holding and the seventh by number of visitors. [1] Like the two other public library systems in New York City, it is an independent nonprofit organization that is funded by the city and state governments, the federal government, and private donors. In marketing materials, the library styles its name as Bklyn Public Library. [2]
In 1852, several prominent citizens established the "Brooklyn Athenaeum and Reading Room" for the instruction of young men. It was as was the practice in those times, a private, subscription library for members, who were recruited and encouraged by the rising mercantile and business class of young men, to continue by constant reading whatever formal education they had received through a university, college, high school/private academy, or trade school. Its collections focused on the liberal arts and the humanities such as biography, economics, history, literature, philosophy, and other applications later labeled social studies.
Five years later, in 1857, another group of young men, along with businessmen, manufacturers, and merchants, founded the "Brooklyn Mercantile Library Association of the City of Brooklyn", with holdings more pronounced in the business, commercial, economics, mathematical, scientific, and technical fields. The Librarian-in-Charge was Stephen Buttrick Noyes, who later went to the Library of Congress in 1866 but returned to Brooklyn three years later, in 1869. This collection and the previous one were merged in 1869 and later moved to a headquarters building on Montague Street. In 1878, the Library Associations were renamed the "Brooklyn Public Library". Stephen Buttrick Noyes commenced developing an extensive catalog for the collections which he completed in 1888.
The first free public library in Brooklyn was that of Pratt Institute, a collegiate institute founded by Charles Pratt in 1888. Available not only for its own students and faculty, the library was also open to the general public at that early time.
The Brooklyn Public Library system was approved by an Act of Legislature of the State of New York on May 3, 1892. [3] The Brooklyn Common Council then passed a resolution for the establishment of the Brooklyn Public Library on November 30, 1896, with Marie E. Craigie as the first director. The library was re-incorporated in 1902. [4]
The first main branch ("central library") moved among various buildings, including a former mansion at 26 Brevoort Place. [5] [6] In 1901, the businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie donated $1.6 million, [7] which helped fund the development and construction of 21 Carnegie neighborhood library branches through 1923. [8]
In 2020, Brooklyn Public Library made an agreement to merge its archives and special collections division, the Brooklyn Collection, with the Brooklyn Historical Society. [9] The new entity is called the Center for Brooklyn History. [10]
There are 61 neighborhood branches throughout the borough, of which many are Carnegie libraries. The library has four bookmobiles, including the Kidsmobile, which carries children's materials, and the Bibliobús, which carries a Spanish language collection. [11]
Located at Flatbush Avenue and Eastern Parkway on Grand Army Plaza near the Prospect Heights, Crown Heights, Flatbush, and Park Slope neighborhoods, Brooklyn Public Library's Central Library contains over a million cataloged books, magazines, and multimedia materials.
The Brooklyn Collection holds the manuscripts and archives for the Brooklyn Public Library and is located at the Central Branch. [12] The Brooklyn Collection holds over a million individual items including Brooklyn Dodgers memorabilia, a collection for the Brooklyn Eagle , which Walt Whitman edited, manuscripts, maps, photographs, and other ephemeral items.
The Bookmobile is a 32-foot (9.8 m)-long, 11.5-foot (3.5 m)-high vehicle housing a mobile library. Carrying up to 6,000 books, the Bookmobile serves communities whose local branches are closed for renovation. The Bookmobile offers many of the services available at other branches.
The Kidsmobile is a smaller, more colorful version of the Bookmobile. During the school year, the Kidsmobile visits schools, day care centers, Head Start, after-school programs and community events. In the summer, the Kidsmobile also travels to parks and camps. In addition to books, the Kidsmobile offers storytelling and arts and crafts.
The Bibliobús is a mobile Spanish-language library. It brings books and other media to Spanish-speaking communities in Brooklyn. The Bibliobús serves sites such as schools, daycares, community-based organizations, senior centers, nonprofit organizations, and community events. [13]
The Shelby White and Leon Levy Information Commons opened at Central Library on January 15, 2013. It features an open workspace with 25 computers and seating and outlets for more than 70 laptop users; 7 meeting rooms, including one that doubles as a recording studio; and a 36-seat training lab. [14]
The library's Learning Centers provide adult literacy and adult education services for free. [15] [16]
On July 15, 2022, Brooklyn Public Library introduced the Books Unbanned initiative which waived the $50 fee for out-of-state library cards for people in the United States between the ages of 13 and 21. The program allows teens and young adults to access ebooks and audiobooks for free. [17] [18] A spokesperson said that the Brooklyn Public Library intended to counteract the “increasingly coordinated and effective effort to remove books tackling a wide range of topics from library shelves.” [19] The library cited the American Library Association's Freedom to Read Statement as a driving force behind the decision, noting the "729 challenges to library, school and university materials and services in 2021, resulting in more than 1,597 individual book challenges or removals." [20]
Brooklyn Public Library's governing board is the board of trustees, consisting of 38 members, all serving in non-salaried positions. The Mayor and the Brooklyn Borough President each appoint eleven of the trustees. These appointed trustees elect twelve additional board members to serve. [21] The mayor, New York City Comptroller, Speaker of the City Council and Brooklyn Borough President are ex officio members of the board. All non-ex officio members of the board serve three-year terms. [22]
Linda E. Johnson was named president and CEO on August 16, 2011, after having served as the institution's interim executive director since July 1, 2010. She replaced Dionne Mack-Harvin, who served as executive director from March 2007. Mack-Harvin was the first African American woman to lead a major public library system in New York state. [23] [24] Previously, Ginnie Cooper had been the executive director of the BPL since January 2003. Other notable executive directors include Kenneth Duchac, who ran the system from 1970 until his retirement in 1986. Duchac is the father of John Doe, founder and lead singer of seminal 1980s punk band X.
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The Brooklyn Public Library is one of three separate and independent public library systems in New York City. The other two are the New York Public Library (NYPL), serving the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, and the Queens Public Library, serving Queens. The Brooklyn and Queens Public Library cards can be accepted by the NYPL, once they are linked to the NYPL system at any NYPL branch. [30]
The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress and the fourth-largest public library in the world. It is a private, non-governmental, independently managed, nonprofit corporation operating with both private and public financing.
The Queens Public Library (QPL), also known as the Queens Borough Public Library and Queens Library (QL), is the public library for the borough of Queens, and one of three public library systems serving New York City. It is one of the largest library systems in the world by circulation, having loaned 13.5 million items in the 2015 fiscal year, and one of the largest in the country in terms of the size of its collection. According to its website, the library holds about 7.5 million items, of which 1.4 million are at its central library in Jamaica, Queens. It was named "2009 Library of the Year" by Library Journal.
Toronto Public Library (TPL) is a public library system in Toronto, Ontario. It is the largest public library system in Canada, and in 2023 had averaged a higher circulation per capita than any other public library system internationally, making it the largest neighbourhood-based library system in the world. Within North America, it also had the highest circulation and visitors when compared to other large urban systems. Established as the library of the Mechanics' Institute in 1830, the Toronto Public Library now consists of 100 branch libraries and has over 26 million items in its collection.
The Greater Victoria Public Library (GVPL) is a public library that serves Victoria, British Columbia and the surrounding area.
The Fresno County Public Library provides books, ebooks, music, movies, magazines, newspapers, reference assistance, wireless Internet access and a variety of other services at its 35 locations throughout Fresno County, California. The library system is headquartered in Fresno, at the Central Library.
Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries is a public library system in southwestern Washington state. The library district was established in 1950 as the first inter-county rural library district in Washington. The district has grown since 1950 to serve all of Clark, Skamania and Klickitat Counties, and the city of Woodland and the independent Yale Valley Library District in Cowlitz County.
The Fullerton Public Library (FPL), is a public library system that serves the City of Fullerton, California and its surrounding communities.
David Sean Ferriero is an American librarian and library administrator, who served as the 10th Archivist of the United States. He previously served as the Director of the New York Public Library and as the University Librarian and Vice Provost for Library Affairs at Duke University. Prior to his Duke position, he worked for 31 years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology library. Ferriero was the first librarian to serve as Archivist of the United States.
The Yonkers Public Library in Yonkers, New York, consists of three branch libraries. The main branch is the 'Yonkers Riverfront Library' which overlooks the Hudson River and New Jersey Palisades. Yonkers Riverfront Library is located in one of the former Otis Elevator buildings and it is across the street from the Yonkers train station. The new main library was opened in 2002, contains an area of 200,000 square feet (19,000 m2) and 4 stories.
The Central Library, originally the Ingersoll Memorial Library, is the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library in Brooklyn, New York City. Located on Grand Army Plaza, at the corner of Flatbush Avenue and Eastern Parkway, it contains over 1.7 million materials in its collection and has a million annual visitors. The current structure was designed by the partnership of Alfred Morton Githens and Francis Keally in the Art Deco style, replacing a never-completed Beaux-Arts structure designed by Raymond Almirall. The building is a New York City designated landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Business & Career Library was a branch of the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) at 280 Cadman Plaza West in Brooklyn Heights, near Downtown Brooklyn, in New York City. Its history precedes that of the BPL itself. In 1852, prominent citizens established the Brooklyn Athenaeum and Reading Room for the instruction of young men. In 1857, a group of young men established the Brooklyn Mercantile Library Association of the City of Brooklyn, which shared a building with the Athenaeum. The Mercantile Library attempted to be more practical, placing less emphasis on Literature and philosophy. The librarian in charge was Stephen Buttrick Noyes. In 1866, he went to work at the Library of Congress.
Macon Library is a branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, located in the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. The branch, opened in 1907, was the borough's eleventh Carnegie library. Richard A. Walker designed Macon in the Classical Revival style and the library was built from red brick and limestone trim with a slate roof at a cost of $93,481. In the 1940s, 1970s, and 2000s, the library underwent major renovations and repairs. Despite the changes, design elements present at the library's opening remain, including some bookshelves, guardrails, and wood paneling. Macon Library houses the African American Heritage Center.
Helen Virginia Stelle was the first director of the Tampa Free Library and one of the founders of the Florida Library Association.
Dionne Mack, briefly known as Dionne Mack-Harvin, is an American librarian. She was the executive director of the Brooklyn Public Library from 2007 to 2011 and the first African-American woman to head a major library system in the state of the New York. She has been the deputy city manager of El Paso, Texas since July 2017.
Owen J. Dever was a Scottish-American politician and library director from New York.
On January 1, 1898, New York City absorbed East Bronx, Brooklyn, western Queens County, and Staten Island. For Brooklyn directories that are combined with Manhattan – before and after being incorporated with New York City – see New York City directories.
Books Unbanned is a United States library program that issues library cards nationwide from regional libraries in order to give electronic access to the library's digital and audio collections to teens and young adults living in U.S. locations where books are being challenged. Initially established by the Brooklyn Public Library, it was created in response to a wave of book challenges against schools and libraries in 2021 and now encompasses five libraries across the United States.