What is a Public Library?

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A bookplate from the Darbey Circulating Library, circa 1789, that was located in Salem, Massachusetts.
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Mechanics Free Libraries were working class institutions that functioned as community centers and libraries.

The first libraries in the American Colonies were established by and for affluent,well educated men who viewed libraries as cultural preserves. These early library collections focused on classical liturature and contemporary scientific publications. The cost of maintaining such a library was very high, so membership was costly and by invitation only.

 

Social libraries, also known as subscription or circulating libraries, were the next type of library to appear in the colonies. These were libraries formed by societies organized to acquire either specialized or general collections for the use of their own members, or for the use of persons of a particular age, gender, interest, or vocation. There were modest membership fees and participation was voluntary. Social libraries were the forerunner of the modern public library.

Public libraries, open to all and funded by public taxes, were nonexistant before the Boston Public Library was established in the 1850s. A 1876 census of libraries in the United States lists almost 3,000 libraries; fewer than 300 of them were public libraries. By 1923 there were   2,220 public libraries; over 80 percent of them were built with Carnegie Library building grants. 

The scale and scope of Andrew Carnegie’s library construction grants shaped the development of public library services. Because Carnegie Libraries were publicly funded, provided a broad array of resources,  and were open to all, the public library developed as an institution to serve the needs of everyone.

Today’s American public libraries share these common elements: 1) they are supported by tax dollars; 2) they are governed by a board specifically appointed to serve the public interest; 3) they are open to all; 4) participation is voluntary; 5) they are established by state law; and 6) they provide services without charge to the user.

 

What is a Public Library?