Salt Lake City Public Library system

Last updated October 10, 2019

The Salt Lake City Public Library system is a network of public libraries funded by Salt Lake City. The Free Public Library of Salt Lake City first opened on February 14, 1898. The system is under the direction of a library board and circulates more than three million items each year.

A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also civil servants.

There are nine locations: the Main Branch library downtown, the Anderson-Foothill Branch, the Chapman Branch in Poplar Grove, the Day-Riverside Branch in Rose Park, the Sprague Branch in Sugar House, the Corrine & Jack Sweet Branch in the Avenues, the Glendale Branch (opened in February 2015^[1]), and the Marmalade Branch in the Marmalade neighborhood of Capitol Hill (opened in February 2016^[2]).

The Salt Lake City Public Library system's main branch building is an architecturally unique structure in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is located at 210 East, 400 South, across from the Salt Lake City and County Building and Washington Square.

Poplar Grove is a western neighborhood of Salt Lake City, Utah. It lies north of Glendale and south of Rose Park & Fair Park. It is the second largest neighborhood in Salt Lake City and is often confused with Glendale. Poplar Grove broke off from Glendale in the 1990s, following Salt Lake City Neighborhood guidelines by submitting paperwork to the City Council for approval. Poplar Grove existed as a neighborhood long before Glendale was created. It got its name from a grove of trees the Edwin Rushton family planted in the area that became known as "Poplar Grove" in the late 1800s. Being the first neighborhood in Salt Lake City to change the original set boundaries, Poplar Grove now has its own community council with elected board members.

Capitol Hill (Salt Lake City) human settlement in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America

Capitol Hill in Salt Lake City gets its name from the Utah State Capitol prominently overlooking downtown. In addition, Capitol Hill can be considered a neighborhood of Salt Lake City.

Territorial years

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints oversaw many of the libraries in early Salt Lake City and the rest of the Utah Territory, founded in 1850.^[3] While many locals tried to promote public lending libraries, private libraries were the most prosperous in early Salt Lake. For many years private libraries were the only ones accessible to the people of the city.^[4]

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian, Christian restorationist church that is considered by its members to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The church is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah in the United States, and has established congregations and built temples worldwide. According to the church, it has over 16 million members and 65,000 full-time volunteer missionaries. In 2012, the National Council of Churches ranked the church as the fourth-largest Christian denomination in the United States, with over 6.5 million members there as of January 2018. It is the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement founded by Joseph Smith during the early 19th century period of religious revival known as the Second Great Awakening.

The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah, the 45th state.

Over these territorial years several groups attempted to establish a free public library, including a small group of women called the Ladies Library Association and a Masonic Order in the city. By 1891, the two organizations had acquired a stock of over 10,000 books, but lack of funding forced the two to donate their collections to the newly formed Pioneer Library Association.^[3] By 1898, another group of women called the Ladies Literary Society had successfully promoted a bill in the territorial legislature giving a levy on property tax to public libraries in the state.^[4] Because of this law, the Free Public Library of Salt Lake City, the city's first government-run free public library, opened on February 14, 1898. Its temporary location was on the top floor of the Salt Lake City and County Building, and the collection consisted mainly of a stockpile of 11,910 books donated by the Pioneer Library Association.^[3] The Pioneer Library Association also provided a librarian for the new library, Annie E. Chapman, for whom the current Chapman branch is now named.

A property tax or millage rate is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property, usually levied on real estate. The tax is levied by the governing authority of the jurisdiction in which the property is located. This can be a national government, a federated state, a county or geographical region or a municipality. Multiple jurisdictions may tax the same property. This tax can be contrasted to a rent tax which is based on rental income or imputed rent, and a land value tax, which is a levy on the value of land, excluding the value of buildings and other improvements.

The Salt Lake City and County Building, usually called the "City-County Building", is the seat of government for Salt Lake City, Utah. The historic landmark formerly housed offices for Salt Lake County government as well, hence the name.

State Street

By 1900 the library had outgrown its housing, and attention was turned to acquiring a larger, more permanent location. Again the Ladies Literary Society helped out by persuading the mining millionaire John Quackenbos Packard to donate land and money for a new location.^[4] The new location was at 15 South State Street in a building that cost $100,000 at the time. The new library opened in 1905 with a new librarian, Joanna Sprague, for whom the Sprague branch is now named. This building would serve as the main branch library until October 1964, when a new library was built at 209 East 500 South.^[3]

The Old Hansen Planetarium at 15 South State Street in Salt Lake City, Utah has served many functions throughout its history. Originally built in 1904 as the Salt Lake City Public Library, the building was renovated in 1965 to become the Hansen Planetarium. After the planetarium closed and was replaced by the Clark Planetarium in 2003, the building was remodeled into the O.C. Tanner Company Headquarters, which opened in 2009. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

During this library's service, the library system was expanded to include eight branches. The Chapman branch was originally located at 610 West North Temple but moved to 577 South 900 West in 1917 when the city was awarded $25,000 from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to build a Carnegie library. The new Chapman branch opened on May 28, 1918. The Sprague branch in the Sugar House District opened in 1914, originally at 1035 East 2100 South, but moved to its present location at 2131 South 1100 East in 1928. In 1935 the American Library Association dubbed the branch the "Most Beautiful Branch Library in America".^[3] The Main Branch library on State Street was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and the Sprague Branch was listed in 2003.^[5]

The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world. Carnegie Corporation has endowed or otherwise helped to establish institutions that include the United States National Research Council, what was then the Russian Research Center at Harvard University, the Carnegie libraries and the Children's Television Workshop. It also for many years generously funded Carnegie's other philanthropic organizations, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP), the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (CFAT), and the Carnegie Institution for Science (CIS).

A Carnegie library is a library built with money donated by Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. A total of 2,509 Carnegie libraries were built between 1883 and 1929, including some belonging to public and university library systems. 1,689 were built in the United States, 660 in the United Kingdom and Ireland, 125 in Canada, and others in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Serbia, Belgium, France, the Caribbean, Mauritius, Malaysia, and Fiji.

Sugar House, Salt Lake City neighborhood in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

Sugar House is a neighborhood in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It is one of the city's oldest neighborhoods and the name is officially two words. Sugar House is the site of Westminster College.

Branch expansion

When this library began to outgrow its home in the 1960s, a new site was acquired at 209 East 500 South. The groundbreaking ceremony occurred on December 28, 1962, and the building was finished on October 30, 1964. Though many old library branches were closed down during the latter half of the 20th century, several more were built. The Rose Park Branch opened in 1965, and the Corinne and Jack Sweet Branch in The Avenues and Anderson-Foothill Branch both opened in 1985. In 1996 the Rose Park Branch was replaced by the Day-Riverside Branch.^[3]

After celebrating the library system's 100th anniversary in 1998, taxpayers were asked to fund the building of a new Main Branch library building in downtown. Sixty-eight percent of voters approved an $84 million bond to build the new library. Several architects submitted plans, but the firms of Moshe Safdie and Associates partnered with local Salt Lake City firm, VCBO Architecture, were eventually chosen. Ground broke at 200 East 500 South (on the same block as the 1964 library) in October 2000, and construction was completed on February 8, 2003.^[3]

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References

↑ "Salt Lake City Public Library". Salt Lake City Public Library. Retrieved 2016-07-21.
↑ "Community gathers for grand opening of Marmalade Branch Library in SLC and there is also the Magna Branch in Magna, Utah". fox13now.com. 2016-02-28. Retrieved 2016-07-21.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "History of The City Library". Salt Lake City Public Library. 2003. Retrieved March 18, 2010.
1 2 3 John S. H. Smith (August 7, 1979). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Salt Lake City Public Library". National Park Service. "Accompanying 4 photos, from 1979". National Register of Historic Places Inventory.
↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.

External links

Official Site

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[1] "Salt Lake City Public Library". Salt Lake City Public Library. Retrieved 2016-07-21.

[2] "Community gathers for grand opening of Marmalade Branch Library in SLC and there is also the Magna Branch in Magna, Utah". fox13now.com. 2016-02-28. Retrieved 2016-07-21.

[libhistory-3] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "History of The City Library". Salt Lake City Public Library. 2003. Retrieved March 18, 2010.

[nrhpnom-4] 1 2 3 John S. H. Smith (August 7, 1979). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Salt Lake City Public Library". National Park Service. "Accompanying 4 photos, from 1979". National Register of Historic Places Inventory.

[nris-5] "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.