The Robert W. Saunders Sr. Public Library is a member of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System (THPL) and the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative (HCPLC).
Located on 1505 Nebraska Avenue in Tampa, Florida, the 26,244 square foot library is one of only two African-American research libraries in the entire state of Florida. [1] This library provides access to the full suite of Adobe Creative Cloud desktop apps by booking in advance or by a walk-in booking. [2]
In 1933, the Ybor City Branch Library opened in a storefront, donated by the local Italian American Club, L'Unione Italiana at 1729 East Broadway. At the time, L'Unione Italiana was one of the several ethnic clubs in Tampa which provided members with cultural enrichment activities, healthcare, and promoted civic engagement and cultural development in the fledgeling city. [3] The library's collection featured materials in Spanish, Italian and English to accommodate the diverse population of Ybor City. [4]
Construction of a new building at 1505 North Nebraska Avenue, in an area once known as "the Scrub", was planned as part of the 1968 Model Cities Maryland Avenue Urban Renewal project. [5] The new library, designed by Architect Russell Minardi, was dedicated in January 1969. It featured a stone mural along the entrance wall entitled "Symbols of Mankind" by local artist and former professor Joe Testa-Secca. The mural reflects the great knowledge available at a library.
On November 5, 2003, the Ybor City Branch Library was renamed to honor Robert W. Saunders Sr., a former Field Secretary of the NAACP. Saunders guided the state through challenging years as the South struggled for civil rights. [6]
Demolition of the old building and groundbreaking to replace the nearly 45-year-old building currently located at 1505 N. Nebraska Ave. was held March 7, 2014. [7] The new $7 million, two-story building was designed by the Harvard Jolly architecture firm. [8]
Unlike the original opening of the Ybor City Branch Library in 1933, when no program to mark the opening took place, [9] a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on August 12, 2015 to celebrate the grand opening of the new Robert W. Saunders Sr. Public Library. Two pieces from the old library were incorporated into the new building: a bronze bust of Robert W. Saunders Sr., and the exterior stone mural called "Symbols of Mankind." The new library features a bookstore, a recording room for visitors to record their oral histories and stories, a children's room with movable furniture, and a 350-seat community room equipped with a full-size commercial kitchen. The new two-story library has a historical corridor dedicated to the history of African Americans in the area. It features exhibits showcasing the athletes, entertainers, churches and schools that were part of Tampa’s past. The second floor houses a special collections resource center for African-American history and genealogy. It contains hundreds of digitalized oral histories and databases for research. [10]
The Ybor City Branch Library was supported in part by the Italian Club benefit programs (for example, with proceeds from showings of "motion" pictures" of the group's coronation ceremony and annual cabaret dance) [11] The predecessor to the current branch serving the area would not have been possible without the monetary support of the community. So too has the Robert W. Saunders Sr. Library benefited from the support of the larger Hillsborough County Library System and the community friends group.
The Robert W. Saunders Sr. Public Library is supported by Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System, the Ada T. Payne Friends of the Urban Libraries, and the Robert W. Saunders Foundation. The library also has a partnership with Booker T. Washington Elementary School, and a physical walkway connects the two buildings. [12]
Instrumental to the library's success is the Ada T. Payne Friends of Urban Libraries organization, started in 2003. This is the Friends of Libraries group for the Robert W. Saunders Sr. Branch. Some specific highlights in terms of fundraisers that the group engages the community in are Jazz in the Stacks and Crowns and Teas. Robert Saunders, C. Blythe Andrews, and West Tampa Branch are the Tampa libraries which benefit from the organizational efforts of this group; [13] and their close relationship to the nearby school has also influenced the Saunders branch development in terms of ease of access for the local students. In May 2009, groundbreaking was held for a walkway to connect the library with Booker T. Washington Elementary School. It was open for use by the students in September of the same year. [14]
On October 18, 2019, the branch's Administrative Librarian Mrs. Carrie Hurst was honored with the 2020 Jean Key Gates Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of South Florida School of Information. The award recognizes "alumnus whose outstanding professional career achievements serve as a role model for all information science graduates". [15] The Alice G. Smith Lecture featuring Jessamyn West (librarian) was held in connection with the recognition.
Hillsborough County is located in the west central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. In the 2020 census, the population was 1,459,762, making it the fourth-most populous county in Florida and the most populous county outside the Miami metropolitan area. A 2021 estimate has the population of Hillsborough County at 1,512,070 people with a yearly growth rate of 1.34%, which itself is greater than the populations of 12 states according to their 2019 population estimates. Its county seat and largest city is Tampa. Hillsborough County is part of the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Tampa is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County. With a population of 384,959 according to the 2020 census, Tampa is the third-most populous city in Florida after Jacksonville and Miami.
Ybor City is a historic neighborhood just northeast of downtown Tampa, Florida, United States. It was founded in the 1880s by Vicente Martinez-Ybor and other cigar manufacturers and populated by thousands of immigrants, mainly from Cuba, Spain, and Italy. For the next 50 years, workers in Ybor City's cigar factories rolled hundreds of millions of cigars annually.
West Tampa is one of the oldest neighborhoods within the city limits of Tampa, Florida, United States. It was an independently incorporated city from 1895 until 1925, when it was annexed by Tampa.
The Ybor City Historic District is a U.S. National Historic Landmark District located in Tampa, Florida. The district is bounded by 6th Avenue, 13th Street, 10th Avenue and 22nd Street, East Broadway between 13th and 22nd Streets. Ybor City contains a total of 956 historic buildings, including an unparalleled collection of architecture with Spanish-Cuban influence, as well as historic cigar factory buildings and associated infrastructure. The area was developed by businessman Vicente Martinez Ybor beginning in 1886, and was for a time the world's leading supplier of cigars.
For other Carnegie Libraries, see Carnegie library (disambiguation)
V.M. Ybor is a neighborhood within the city limits of Tampa, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census, the neighborhood had a population of 1,743. The ZIP Codes serving the neighborhood are 33602, 33603, and 33605.
Ybor City is a historic neighborhood that includes the Ybor City Historic District in Tampa, Florida. It is located just northeast of downtown Tampa and north of Port Tampa Bay. The neighborhood has distinct architectural, culinary, cultural, and historical legacy that reflects its multi-ethnic composition. It was unique in the American South as a prosperous manufacturing community built and populated almost entirely by immigrants.
The Tampa Riverwalk is a 2.6-mile-long (4.2 km) open space and pedestrian trail along the Hillsborough River in Tampa, Florida. The Riverwalk extends along most of the downtown Tampa waterfront from the Channelside District on the eastern terminus to the mouth of the Hillsborough River and then north along the riverside to Tampa Heights, forming a continuous path that connects a multitude of parks, attractions, public spaces, and hotels. Among the notable points of interest along the Riverwalk are the Tampa Bay History Center, Amalie Arena, the Tampa Convention Center, Rivergate Tower, Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, Water Works Park, and the Waterfront Arts District which includes the Tampa Museum of Art, Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Glazer Children's Museum, and the Straz Center for the Performing Arts. Locations along the Riverwalk play host to many community events, most notably the numerous festivals held at Curtis Hixon Park and the arrival of the "pirate ship" Jose Gasparilla, which moors at the Riverwalk behind the Convention Center during the Gasparilla Pirate Festival.
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."
For other Carnegie Libraries, see Carnegie library (disambiguation)
John F. Germany Public Library is the flagship library of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System (THPL), as well as a member of the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative, and a member of the Tampa Bay Library Consortium.
The Port Tampa City Library is a library located in a historic bank building in the Port Tampa section of Tampa, Florida, at 4902 W. Commerce Street. It is a neighborhood branch in the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System.
The Seminole Heights Branch Library is a member of the Tampa–Hillsborough County Public Library System.
The Jan Kaminis Platt Regional Library is part of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System (THPL), as well as a member of the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative (HCPLC). The library is a 25,000 sq. ft. facility located at 3910 S. Manhattan Ave. in Tampa, Florida. The library provides books, magazines, DVDs, music, and internet access, as well as programs and activities, and a drive-thru window for check out and return of materials. In December 2018 the library underwent an extensive renovation which enclosed the children's area and expanded the number of meeting and study rooms to eight.
The C. Blythe Andrews Jr. Public Library, formerly known as the College Hill Branch Library, is in Tampa, Florida. The 8,500 sq. foot facility was renamed in 2011 for Florida Sentinel Bulletin owner and publisher C. Blythe Andrews. The library is located at 2607 E. Dr. MLK Jr. Blvd. It is part of the Tampa–Hillsborough County Public Library System (THPL), as well as a member of the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative (HCPLC).
The Riverview Public Library is part of the Tampa–Hillsborough County Public Library System and the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative. The library is located in Hillsborough County, Florida.
Helen Virginia Stelle was the first director of the Tampa Free Library and one of the founders of the Florida Library Association.
The Burgert Brothers were early photographers, most prominently known for documenting the growth of Tampa, Florida. Their photos span the late 1800s until the early 1960s. They depict times of war, natural disasters such as the 1921 Tampa Bay hurricane, economic booms, economic busts, transportation, building projects, bungalows, African American life, cigar factories, sponge docks, strawberry fields, mercantile businesses, banks, and service stations. They also feature Florida leisure activities at parks and beaches including golf, shuffleboard, checkers, and tennis. Thanks to the prolific Burgert Brothers local events and traditions like the Gasparilla Pirate Festival and Florida State Fair have been well-documented.
La Unión Martí-Maceo is a historic social club in Ybor City, Florida established by Afro-Cubans. It was founded in 1900. It is a site on the Florida Black Heritage Trail. It is at 1226 East 7th Avenue. The ornate clubhouse was demolished during an urban renewal redevelopment program in the 1960s, and its headquarters was proposed for sale to address financial difficulties in 2018.