The Library holds more than 200,000 volumes and serves a population of ca. 142,000. FPL is overseen by a Library Board of trustees with five members appointed by the City Council.
Timeline
1888 The Gem Pharmacy, owned by William J. Starbuck, ran a "traveling library" supported by private donations. Books could be checked out free of charge.
1902 Mrs. James Dean opened a "free reading room" on the NW corner of Commonwealth Avenue and Spadra (now called Harbor Boulevard). It was intended to fill the idle hours of oil field and migrant workers.
1906 The City Fathers established a free public library under Ordinance No. 46 two years after the City incorporated. Population 2,000.
1907 The city's first library building was erected on the NW corner of Pomona and Wilshire Avenues with a $10,000 grant from Andrew Carnegie.
1927 A separate Children's Library was built as an annex to the Carnegie library. Mary Campbell served as the first children's librarian. Later the building was relocated to Hillcrest Park for use by the American Red Cross.
1942 The Carnegie Library was razed to make way for a new building on the same site. The construction project was funded by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) of the federal government. Population 11,000. Today this building houses the Fullerton Museum Center.
1961 The Friends of the Fullerton Public Library was established.
1962 Norton Simon and the Hunt Food & Industries Foundation, donated a building and park located in Southwest Fullerton, to the city on the condition that it is "used solely for a public library and public library park." The donation became known as the Hunt BranchArchived 2008-05-09 at the Wayback Machine and is located at 201 S. Basque Avenue. Population 64,100.
1971 A joint powers agreement was entered into between the County of Orange and the City of Fullerton for the purpose of issuing $1.3 million in revenue bonds to finance construction of a new Main Library on Commonwealth Avenue.
1972 Ostrich Eggs for Breakfast; a History of Fullerton for Boys and Girls, written by children's librarian Dora May Sim and illustrated by Wanda Collins, was first printed. The book would become required reading for all Fullerton public school third grade students.
1973 The new Main Library at 353 W. Commonwealth Avenue was dedicated. The former library at the corner of Pomona and Wilshire Avenues would later become home to the Fullerton Museum Center. Population 90,000.
1986 The Fullerton Public Library became the first public library in Orange County to computerize the circulation (checking in and out) of books by barcoding books and library cards.
1987 For the first time in its history, the Library checked out more than one million items in a single year.
1994 The Fullerton Public Library was the last public library in Orange County to replace the card catalog with a computerized card catalog on computer terminals for public use. The Fullerton Public Library Foundation was established. Population 119,500.
1997 The City Council approved the Library Board of Trustees' plans to expand the Main Library. The city launched the library's first web page. Population 125,000.
1999 Construction began on a $1.6 million expansion of the Main Library funded primarily with a Redevelopment bond. The Children's Library closed for 12 months during construction.
2000 The Library Foundation raised $318,000 in support of the Children's Library expansion and for library technology. The Friends of the Library contributed an additional $45,000 towards the expansion project. A new bookmobile arrived. The Main Library received a private donation from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for new public computers and a technology lab. Internet service became accessible to the public. A self-checkout machine at the Main Library was installed. Population 128,255.
2005 The Library began digitizing photographs in the local history collection and making them available via the Internet and the library's catalog. Both the Main Library and the Hunt Branch became wi-fi hotspots, supporting laptop computer connections to the Library's databases and the Internet. Population 135,672.[2]
The remodeled lobby and self check out machines.
2006 The Fullerton Public Library celebrated its 100th year in operation. The library also participated in One Book, One Community, with programs about and influenced by Khaled Hosseini's Kite Runner.[3]
2007 Began its first adult summer reading program, called the Women of Mystery, which shares the same mystery theme with the children's summer reading program, Get a Clue.
2008 The Library had its second annual One Book One Community Program on Homer Hickman's Rocket Boys.
2009 Library expansion plans are moving forward with construction slated to begin March 2010.
2011 July 23 The Main Library reopens after a $10 million expansion and remodel. The library added a new conference center, group study rooms, a cafe, expanded Local History room, and redesigned teen area, computer lab, and floor plan.[4] The newly redesigned library was certified LEED gold.
The children's department in the Fullerton Public Library is named for Carolyn Johnson. Carolyn Johnson began as a children's librarian at the Fullerton Public Library in 1945 until 1959 when she became Children's Services Coordinator. She remained in that position until 1981 when she became director of the library until her retirement in 1990. The children's department serves children with books, activities, and computers from birth until 8th grade.
They provide a variety of programs targeting different ages, including toddler storytime, pre-school storytime, Book Babies, and Bedtime Bears (storytimes for families in the evening), school visits, school nights, parent nights, and the After School Club (crafts, activities, puppet shows, and stories for elementary aged children).
Each summer the Fullerton Public Library has a Summer Reading Club where approximately 3200 kids participate. This includes members of the Read to Me Club (where parents read to not yet literate children), elementary age children, and young adults (7th grade to 12th grade). The children's department also creates lists of recommended reading for grades K-8.[5] Furthermore, the library also offers Tumblebooks which is an online database of children's e-books.
The Bookmobile
Established in 1955, Fullerton Public Library established the first bookmobile in Orange County[2] In October 2012, the library's ad hoc committee recommended that the current bookmobile which had been largely out of service since 2011, should discontinue service entirely.[6] As of 2016, the Bookmobile has been sold, and the library no longer provides Bookmobile service.
Local History Room
The Local History Room, formerly known as the Launer History room is dedicated to information regarding Fullerton, Fullerton history, and to a lesser extent the surrounding communities. The Local History Room was originally established in 1973 with funds from Lulu Convis Launer in honor of her late husband Albert Launer.
Many of the materials in the history room are from Fullerton's early history and development and include books, scrapbooks, personal narratives written by early residents, program brochures, periodical and newspaper clippings, maps, local telephone books, city directories, photographs, videotapes, microfilm, slides, posters, and memorabilia.[7]
The local history room has several projects in the works including digitizing two photograph collections which are available online: the Fullerton Building SurveyArchived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine as well as the Centennial CollectionArchived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine . In 2012, the library undertook an oral history project, interviewing almost 20 Fullerton residents who had lived in the city since the 1950s and in some cases since the 1920s.[8]
Hunt Branch
The second branch/location of the Fullerton Public Library is the Hunt BranchArchived 2008-05-09 at the Wayback Machine . The building was designed by renowned architect William L. Pereira, the architect of the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco, CA. The Hunt Branch is located in south-west Fullerton and was donated in 1962 to the city by the Norton Simon Foundation and Hunt Foods for express use as a public library.
The Hunt branch had been proposed as a future site of the future Norton Simon art collection, however,[9] negotiations fell through, and it became the Hunt Branch instead, while the art went to the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California.
The Hunt Branch provides books, computer access and wifi, programs for children and adults including story-times, book-clubs, and after-school activities, and rental meeting room space.[10]
In March 2013, the Hunt Branch was temporarily closed. Its future is currently being debated; however, the Fullerton City council has not provided funding to operate the branch through June 2015. Neighboring property owner (Grace Ministries) is currently leasing the building on a month-to-month basis.
Teen Area
The Fullerton Public Library features the Teen Area, created in 2007 and expanded in 2011 to serve Fullerton area teens with a dedicated space within the library. The room consists of a quiet study/reading area and a room for group work and fun events as well as a private group study room. The teen collection features over 1700 manga titles, over 2500 young adult book titles, and over 500 graphic novels available for check out or browsing and an art wall with art from young talented Fullerton area artists.
Special Collections
Mary Campbell Collection: over 500 rare and antique children's books including a 1902, first edition of Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling [11]
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. 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.
The Ottawa Public Library is the library system of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The library was founded in 1906 with a donation from the Carnegie Foundation.
The Denver Public Library is the public library system of the City and County of Denver, Colorado. The system includes the Denver Central Library, located in the Golden Triangle district of Downtown Denver, as well as 25 branch locations and two bookmobiles. The library's collection totals more than 2 million items, including books, reference materials, movies, music, and photographs. Of that total, more than 347,000 items are in specific collections including the Western History and Genealogy Department, Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library, and Reference Department holdings.
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.
Clark County Public Library is the public library of Clark County, Ohio, United States. It is based in Springfield, Ohio and has a collection of approximately 500,000 items.
The South San Francisco Public Library is located in South San Francisco, California. It is an independent city library and part of the Peninsula Library System, a consortium of city, county, and community college libraries in San Mateo County. The library holds approximately 166,000 volumes and has 29,000 borrowers. In the fiscal year 2007–2008, the library circulated 687,000 items. The library provides access to homebound delivery services, numerous children's programs, a literacy program, a community learning center, 77 public computers, and free Wi-Fi.
The Detroit Public Library is the second largest library system in the U.S. state of Michigan by volumes held and the 21st-largest library system in the United States. It is composed of the Main Library on Woodward Avenue, which houses the library's administration offices, and 23 branch locations across the city. The Main Library is part of Detroit's Cultural Center Historic District listed in the National Register of Historic Places adjacent to Wayne State University campus and across from the Detroit Institute of Arts.
The Akron-Summit County Public Library is a public library system in Akron, Ohio. Founded in 1874, it operates the Main Library on South High Street and South Main Street in downtown Akron, 18 branch libraries located throughout the city of Akron and Summit County, the Akron Art Library, the Project LEARN of Summit County Training Room, Mobile Services, and Project LEARN of Summit County. As of 2013, they have a lion cub mascot, named Paws.
The Alachua County Library District (ALCD) is an independent special taxing district and the sole provider of public library service to approximately 280,000 citizens of Alachua County, Florida. This includes all of the incorporated municipalities in the county. It maintains a Headquarters Library and four other branches in Gainesville. There are branch locations in seven of the eight other incorporated municipalities in the county. ACLD also operates a branch at the county jail, and two bookmobiles.
The Sunnyvale Public Library is a public library in Sunnyvale, California, USA.
The Rock Island Public Library is located in Rock Island, Illinois. It serves the public from the Downtown Library, Southwest Branch, and the Watts-Midtown Branch, as well as a roving bookmobile (Library2Go) and a robust online presence. The Rock Island Public Library traces its beginnings to November 25, 1872, making it one the first public libraries to open after the passing of the Illinois Local Library Act in 1872. Fee-based public libraries started in 1855 in Rock Island and have contributed to the history of Illinois' original library system.
Ventura County Library is a free public library system of 12 community libraries and a museum library in Ventura County, California, organized in 1916. At the time of its centennial in 2016, the system provided access to 412,715 physical volumes and more than 500,000 virtual items to its nearly 300,000 card holders.
Public libraries in Cardiff are owned and operated by Cardiff Council. There are 20 public libraries in the capital of Wales, the largest of which is Cardiff Central Library. A mobile library service is also provided. In 2018/19, there were almost 91,000 Cardiff residents, around 25% of the city's population, who borrowed an item from a municipal library. Increases in visits, active borrowers and library members have taken place during 18/19 as the service continues to grow in popularity with Cardiff's citizens.
The Santa Monica Public Library (SMPL) is the public library serving residents of Santa Monica, California and surrounding areas. SMPL is directed by a City Librarian, who reports to the Santa Monica City Manager's Office and is overseen by a Library Board consisting of five members appointed by the Santa Monica City Council.
Nashville Public Library (NPL) is the public library system serving Nashville, Tennessee and the metropolitan area of Davidson County. In 2010, the Nashville Public Library was the recipient of the National Medal for Museum and Library Service. The library was named the Gale/Library Journal 2017 Library of the Year.
The Tampa–Hillsborough County Public Library System (THPL) is a public library system based in Hillsborough County, Florida. THPL is part of two larger library networks, the Tampa Bay Library Consortium, and the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative which includes Temple Terrace Public Library in Temple Terrace, Florida, and Bruton Memorial Library in Plant City, Florida. There are 33 branches of the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative. Services provided by the THPL include internet access, public meeting room spaces, interlibrary loans, a Bookmobile, a Cybermobile for Spanish speakers, technology classes, adult literacy programs, and downloadable eBooks. Drive-thru windows for returns and hold pick-ups are located at the Jimmie B. Keel and the Jan Kaminis Platt Regional Libraries. In 2017, THPL introduced the new HAAL Pass, which gives access to certain library resources to all students in the Hillsborough County Public Schools System. Students use their student ID number to use different online databases, borrow up to three physical items and read eBooks. The Tampa–Hillsborough County Public Library System is also a part of Hillsborough County government. On January 1, 2018, the library cooperative became one of the largest in the country to go fine free. Overdue fees for borrowed materials were eliminated with the implementation of the "Just Bring It Back" initiative. In 2019 the cooperative received the FLA Library of the Year Award. Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library was recognized for its community focused initiatives as it "reorganized its staffing model and eliminated overdue fines, yielding $1 million in savings while increasing access to library resources and expanding opportunities for community engagement through unique, scalable programs."
New Rochelle Public Library (NRPL) is a public library located in New Rochelle, New York. Chartered in 1894, the NRPL is a school-district library with its own operating budget and a board of trustees with seven elected members. The library has served the residents of New Rochelle from its main library building in the downtown business district since 1979.
The City of Hialeah Public Library is a system of public libraries in Hialeah, FL. The Hialeah Public Library has one central library, John F. Kennedy Library, and five neighborhood e-libraries.
The Seminole County Public Library System is a public library system with five branches located in the cities of Casselberry, Sanford, Oviedo, Lake Mary, and Longwood, Florida. The Jean Rhein Central Branch (Casselberry) is located at 215 N Oxford Rd, Casselberry, FL 32707.
The Oxnard Public Library is a free public library system operated by the City of Oxnard, California. It has three locations: the Downtown Main Library, the South Oxnard Branch Library, and the Colonia Branch Library.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
