El Paso Public Libraries | |
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31°45′38″N106°29′26″W / 31.760502°N 106.490689°W | |
Location | El Paso, Texas |
Established | 1894 |
Branches | 13 |
Collection | |
Size | 902,521 |
Other information | |
Director | Norma Martinez |
Website | www |
The El Paso Public Libraries is the municipal public library system of El Paso, Texas. The library serves the needs the public in El Paso, Texas, Chaparral, New Mexico and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. It consists of 14 branches and one Bookmobile service. Multiple outreach services are also available including a Homebound service.
The main collection consists of 902,521 items in multiple formats including books, reference, downloadable eBooks, audiobooks, music and movies, DVDs, CDs, large-print books, magazines, and newspapers. [1] Special Collections include a Government Documents Collection, Border Heritage Collection, and RAZA Collection.
The El Paso Public Library is the longest continuously active public library system in Texas. [2] It was founded by Mary Irene Stanton, an El Paso area teacher. [3] Stanton "single-handedly becomes founder of the El Paso Public Library" when in 1894, she donated her personal collection of 1,000 books for a boy's Reading Club which was housed in a room in the Sheldon Building. [4] On June 1, 1895, women were also allowed to access this collection. [5] In 1895, the El Paso Library Association was formed, with Mary Stanton as the president, to support further library efforts. [6] On December 4, 1899, 4,000 books that were collectively owned by both Mary I. Stanton and Fannie J. Clark were moved from their location in the Sheldon Hotel to El Paso City Hall. [7] Mary I. Stanton was the original librarian. She began cataloging the books in 1899. In 1900, Belle F. Read takes over as librarian. [8]
Citizens wanted to have a separate library. Petitions were formed and circulated for the library to have its own location. [9] Finally, assistance from Andrew Carnegie came in 1902. [8] The Carnegie Foundation provided the El Paso Library Association a grant totaling $37,500 to build a separate library building to house the growing collection. [10] In agreement with the "Carnegie Formula" which stipulates that a municipality must also provide support for the public library, the City Council agreed to vote in a tax to support the building efforts. The new library would be built on an old cemetery site, Buckler Square. The Library opened on April 25, 1904, in the newly named "Carnegie Square." [11]
The new Carnegie library needed repair by 1919 and the collection had outgrown the building. In fact, many books were housed by operating "branches" in four different drug and grocery stores throughout El Paso starting in 1915. [8] A second story needed to be added to the original Carnegie building. In 1920, the library's book collection is moved temporarily to the courthouse so that construction could take place. [12] In 1945, a second official branch library is opened at the Tays Housing Project. In 1950, the Memorial Park Branch was opened. [13] The Lower Valley Branch opened in 1960. In 1961, two branches: Richard Burges Branch and the Josephine Clardy Fox Branch were opened. [14] In 1957, a Bookmobile was in operation with a second to serve underprivileged communities in El Paso to start operations in 1972. [14]
By 1943, the library's collections had again outgrown its original downtown building. By 1951, a bond issue was approved by El Paso voters for $975,000 to build a new, larger library. [8] The new library opened on September 12, 1954. The building was described as "Modern Southwestern" and contained artistic contributions from artists Tom Lea, Jose Cisneros and Ewing Waterhouse. [14] The original Carnegie Building was demolished in 1968.
In 1906, the El Paso Public Library was designated a Federal Depository as part of the Federal Depository Library Program. [15] In 1908, the library began a Spanish-language collection of books. [16] Later, librarian, Maud Durlin Sullivan would add to the Spanish language collection as well as grow a nationally recognized art and southwestern studies collection through the aid of donations and special funds. [17] Maud Sullivan taught herself Spanish in order to better select appropriate books for the library's collection. [18] Maud Sullivan was an avid patron of the arts and also helped create an important Mining Resources Collection for the library. [19]
Children's services at the library date back to 1912 when librarian, Marion Weil-Tappan, promoted children's literature and the connection between the library and public schools. In 1922, the library was fully departmentalized to include a juvenile department. [20]
The El Paso Public Library offers many services to the public.
These departments of the El Paso Public Library have a specific focus and/or serve a targeted group of patrons.
The Border Heritage Center is located at the Main Library and combines the library's Southwest, RAZA and Genealogy departments into a central location. The Border Heritage Center manages several special collections, some of which are digital. In addition to these collections, the Border Heritage department provides an online newspaper headline and obituary search for years 1997 through 2011.
Children's services include special collections and programs at each branch of the system. During the summer months, the promotes an 8 week long Summer Reading Club in order to encourage literacy among children. The library was Ranked #6 in the list for Top 10 Libraries for Children by Livability.com. In addition, the library celebrates the annual Dia de los Niños/Dia de los Libros festival for children and literacy.
The El Paso Public Library is currently a selective Federal Depository for Government Documents, receiving 35% of documents published by the Government Printing Office (GPO). This department is also a depository for Texas State documents starting in 1966. [22] Some items may be checked out and others are accessible online at the library's Government Documents page. On this page are guides and resources in addition to information about the Federal Depository Program.
Services specifically for teens are much newer. In the El Paso Public Library, Teen Services are created and implemented by the Teen Hangout Committee. Each library branch sends a member to the committee. Teen services include programming, special teen collections and a celebration known as TeenToberFest which is celebrated annually.
All El Paso Public Library Branches share resources and are connected to the same database. Materials from one branch may be requested and received at another.
In addition, the system offers a bookmobile service [23]
These libraries are a collaboration between the El Paso Public Library and another entity.
Hueco Tanks is an area of low mountains and historic site in El Paso County, Texas, in the United States. It is located in a high-altitude desert basin between the Franklin Mountains to the west and the Hueco Mountains to the east. Hueco is a Spanish word meaning hollows and refers to the many water-holding depressions in the boulders and rock faces throughout the region. Due to the unique concentration of historic artifacts, plants and wildlife, the site is under protection of Texas law; it is a crime to remove, alter, or destroy them.
Downtown El Paso is the central business district of El Paso, Texas.
Fort Bliss National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery in West Texas, located at Fort Bliss, a U.S. Army post adjacent to the city of El Paso. Administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs, it encompasses 82.1 acres (33.2 ha), and as of 2014, had over 50,000 interments. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.
Northeast El Paso is part of the city of El Paso, Texas and is located north of Central El Paso, and east of the Franklin Mountains. Its southern boundary is variously given as Fred Wilson Boulevard or Cassidy Road and Van Buren Avenue, and it extends northward to the New Mexico state line; some portions of this region lie outside the city limits, including parts of Franklin Mountains State Park and areas of Fort Bliss: the Logan Heights area of Fort Bliss around Chapin High School and Castner Range National Monument, an old firing range northwest of Hondo Pass Drive and Gateway South Boulevard. Development of Northeast El Paso, which had begun before the Second World War around the Logan Heights area, started in earnest during the 1950s, when many homes were demolished in the process of the construction of Interstate 10. It is one of the more ethnically diverse areas of town due to a high concentration of military families. Northeast El Paso has historically not developed at a rate comparable to East El Paso and Northwest El Paso, but in recent years, it has seen an increase in development. It is expected that the population in Northeast El Paso will grow more rapidly as a result of the troop increase for Fort Bliss in the coming years. Northeast El Paso has gained recognition throughout the city for schools like Parkland, Irvin, Andress and Chapin because of their outstanding athletic programs.
Kern Place is a historic neighborhood on the West side of El Paso, Texas. The neighborhood lies just east of the University of Texas at El Paso, and north of downtown. Kern is part of District 1 in the City of El Paso and currently represented by Peter Svarzbein. The neighborhood was created by Peter E. Kern, and once had an unusual gate marking the entrance. Madeline Park in the center of the neighborhood is named after Kern's daughter. Businesses and a small entertainment district border the eclectic housing featured in the neighborhood.
The Centennial Museum and Chihuahuan Desert Gardens is a cultural history and natural history museum on the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso in El Paso, Texas, United States.The museum was built in 1936 to commemorate the centenary of Texas independence, making it the oldest museum in El Paso.
The Jacksonville Public Library is the public library system of Jacksonville, Florida, United States. It primarily serves Jacksonville and Duval County merged areas, and is also used by the neighboring Baker, Nassau, Clay, and St. Johns counties. It is one of the largest library systems in Florida, with a collection of over three million items. A division of the city government, the library has the third largest group of city employees, after the city's fire department and sheriff's office. There are twenty branches and a main library in the system.
The Plaza Theatre is a historic building in El Paso, Texas, United States, built in 1930. The theater stands as one of the city's most well-known landmarks, and remains operational today. The theatre is a National Historic Building of Significance featuring the 2,050-seat Kendall Kidd Performance Hall, and the smaller 200-seat Philanthropy Theatre. It hosts Broadway productions, musical concerts, individual performers and the annual Plaza Classic Film Festival.
The State Library of Ohio is a state agency that provides services to state government and all types of libraries to ensure that all Ohio residents, rich or poor, rural or urban, receive the best possible library service and are able to engage in lifelong learning which strengthens the economic health of Ohio.
The University of North Texas Libraries is an American academic research library system that serves the constituent colleges and schools of University of North Texas in Denton. The phrase "University of North Texas Libraries" encompasses three aspects: The library collections as a whole and its organizational structure; The physical facilities and digital platform that house the collections; and certain self-contained collections of substantial size that warrant the name "Library"—the Music Library and the Digital Libraries (collections), for example, are housed in Willis Library.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of El Paso, Texas.
Betty Mary Goetting was an American librarian, civic leader and women's rights activist. She is known for bringing Planned Parenthood to El Paso, Texas.
The Woman's Club of El Paso was founded in the late nineteenth century, and during that time was the only woman's organization in El Paso, Texas. The Woman's Club also allowed women in El Paso to become involved in community service and activism. The building which is the home for the club is located on 1400 N. Mesa Drive, and was erected in 1916. The club, now a non-profit organization, traces its official origins back to 1894, and continues to provide an "educational and cultural center for its members." The building is registered in the National Register of Historic Places.
Chihuahuita is a neighborhood in El Paso, Texas. It has also been known as the "First Ward." It is considered the oldest neighborhood in the city. It has also suffered through extreme poverty in its history. It is currently on the Most Endangered Historic Places list as compiled by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It is located on the border of the Rio Grande at the Mexico–United States border. For most of the twentieth century, the name Chihuahuita was used to refer to all of southern El Paso, often including El Segundo Barrio. In 1991, Chihuahuita was designated as a historic district by the city of El Paso.
Manhattan Heights is a historic district and neighborhood in El Paso, Texas. The neighborhood was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
The Cooke County Library is a public library serving the population of Cooke County, Texas. The library is located in Gainesville, Texas.
Mary Irene Stanton was an American teacher and the founder of the El Paso Public Library. She was born in Georgia and taught for many years before the founding of the library, and continued to teach after leaving her position as president of the El Paso Public Library Association.
Maud Durlin Sullivan was an American librarian. She is most well known for her work as the librarian of the El Paso Public Library.
Elizabeth Marcelle Lively Hamer was an American librarian and folklorist. Her career spanned more than thirty years at the University of Texas and the El Paso Public Library, where she was an expert in Texas folklore and history. She served for seventeen years as the treasurer of the Texas Folklore Society.