Midland is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Midland County with small portions extending into Martin County. The population was 132,524 as of the 2020 census. Located in the Permian Basin in West Texas, Midland is a major center for American oil and natural gas production.
Fair Park is a recreational and educational complex in Dallas, Texas, United States, located immediately east of downtown. The 277-acre (112 ha) area is registered as a Dallas Landmark and National Historic Landmark; many of the buildings were constructed for the Texas Centennial Exposition in 1936.
The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world.
Linda Anne Eastman was an American librarian. She was selected by the American Library Association (ALA) as one of the 100 most important librarians of the 20th century.
A bookmobile, or mobile library, is a vehicle designed for use as a library. They have been known by many names throughout history, including traveling library, library wagon, book wagon, book truck, library-on-wheels, and book auto service. Bookmobiles expand the reach of traditional libraries by transporting books to potential readers, providing library services to people in otherwise underserved locations and/or circumstances. Bookmobile services and materials, may be customized for the locations and populations served.
KPBT-TV, branded on-air as Basin PBS, is a PBS member television station licensed to Odessa, Texas, United States, serving the Permian Basin area. Owned by Permian Basin Public Telecommunications, Inc., the station maintains studios at the historic Ritz Theater in downtown Midland and a transmitter near Gardendale.
James G. Neal is an American librarian, library administrator, and a prominent figure in American and international library associations. In 2022 President Joe Biden appointed him to the National Museum and Library Services Board which advises the agency on general policies with respect to the duties, powers, and authority of the Institute of Museum and Library Services relating to museum, library, and information services, as well as the annual selection of the National Medal for Museum and Library Service.
Multnomah County Library is the public library system serving Portland and Multnomah County, Oregon, United States. A continuation of the Library Association of Portland, established in 1864, the system now has 19 branches offering books, magazines, DVDs, and computers. It is the largest library system in Oregon, serving a population of 724,680, with more than 425,000 registered borrowers. According to the Public Library Association, it ranks second among U.S. libraries, based on circulation of books and materials, and ranks first among libraries serving fewer than one million residents. In this respect, it is the busiest in the nation.
Round Rock Public Library (RRPL) is a public library located in Round Rock, Texas
The Lawrence Public Library is a public library located in Lawrence, Kansas. It serves the City of Lawrence, and, through its membership in the Northeast Kansas Library System (NEKLS), all of the citizens of the NEKLS multi-county regional library system. The library was originally established as a subscription-based library in 1854, but changed to a free public library upon the donation of a new building by Andrew Carnegie in 1904. The Carnegie library was the main headquarters of the NEKLS and the main library in Lawrence until 1972 when a new modern library replaced it.
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.
Carla Diane Hayden is an American librarian who is serving as the 14th librarian of Congress. Since the creation of the office of the librarian of Congress in 1802, Hayden is both the first African American and the first woman to hold this post. Appointed in 2016, she is the first professional librarian to hold the post since 1974.
Minneapolis Central Library is a public library located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the largest library in the Hennepin County Library system. It bills itself as having "the third largest per capita public library collection of any major city in America with a collection of more than 2.4 million items—including books, DVDs, music, government documents." The 353,000-square-foot (32,800 m2) building at 300 Nicollet Mall with two levels of underground parking was designed by César Pelli and opened on May 20, 2006. It has over 300 computers for use by the public, an 8,140-square-foot (756 m2) atrium, an 18,560-square-foot (1,724 m2) green roof planted with low-growing ground cover designed to "be sun- and drought-resistant", and a host of energy-efficiency measures.
McAllen Public Library, or MPL, is the public library system serving McAllen, Texas, United States.
Miriam Matthews was an American librarian, advocate for intellectual freedom, historian, and art collector. In 1927, Matthews became the first credentialed African American librarian to be hired by the Los Angeles Public Library.
Pierre Bottineau Library is a branch library located in northeast Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It was named for Pierre Bottineau, a prominent Minnesota frontiersman and is one of 41 libraries in the Hennepin County Library System. The library moved to its current location at the historic Grain Belt campus in 2003. The 12,355-square-foot (1,147.8 m2) facility combines two historic buildings, the 1893 Wagon Shed and the 1913 Millwright Shop, with an addition designed by RSP Architects.
Maureen Sullivan is an American librarian, educator, and organizational consultant who served as the president of the American Library Association from 2012 to 2013.
Wallace Van Jackson was an American librarian and civil rights activist. He was the director of several academic libraries over his career and was respected for developing collections that promoted the history of African Americans; he was also instrumental in creating reference services and building library collections for multiple libraries in Africa. Van Jackson was part of a group that successfully challenged voter discrimination against African Americans in 1944 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Patricia "Patty" Wong is the city librarian of Santa Clara, California. Wong was the president of the American Library Association (ALA) for the 2021-2022 term and is the first Asian American president of the ALA. She has been on the faculty at the San Jose State University iSchool since 2006, teaching subjects such as equitable access to library services, library management, and library services to young people.
Viola Mary Johnson Coleman was the first African-American female physician to practice medicine in Midland, Texas. She was active in advocating for the desegregation of schools and for the integration of hospitals in Midland. In 1945, she enlisted the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in bringing a lawsuit against Louisiana State University medical school for denying her admission based upon her race, a decade before some of the most influential civil rights actions such as in Montgomery and Little Rock. In part due to Coleman's case, NAACP lawyers pursued similar litigation for desegregation of schools in the late 1940s and 1950s, including the U.S. Supreme Court case Sweatt vs Painter. She was known as a compassionate physician and figurehead in the Midland community, never turning anyone away even if they couldn't pay for medical care.
