Page 109 - DLIS101_LIBRARY_AND_INFORMATION_SOCIETY

Library and Information Society

Notes There are disputes about which was the first public library in the nation. Early American cities such
as Boston and Philadelphia and New York had the first organized collections of books, but which
library was truly “public” is subject to dispute. Sidis claims the first public library was Boston’s in
1636, although the official Boston Public Library was organized later in 1852. In 1698, Charleston’s
St. Philip’s Church Parsonage had a parish library.
In 1731, Benjamin Franklin and his friends, sometimes called “the Junto”, operated the Library
Company of Philadelphia partly as a means to settle arguments and partly as a means to advance
them through sharing information. Franklin’s subscription library allowed members to buy “shares”
and combined funds were used to buy more books; in return, members could borrow books and
use the library. Today, the Library Company continues to exist as a nonprofit, independent research
library.
A town in Massachusetts wanted to name itself Franklin in honor of the famous Pennsylvanian,
and in return, Benjamin Franklin donated books for use by local residents; while Franklin had been
asked to donate a church bell instead, he declined on the basis that “sense” was preferable to “sound.”
One source considers the Franklin library in Massachusetts to be the first public library in the United
States.
Another source claims the library in Darby, Pennsylvania which opened in 1743 is the “oldest
continuously operating free public library” in the United States. [54] But other libraries claim to be
the first public library, including the Scoville library in Salisbury, Connecticut, which was established
in 1803. The library in the New Hampshire town of Peterborough claims to be the first publicly-
funded library; it opened in 1833. And a library in Massachusetts in the town of Arlington claims to
have had the first free children’s library; it opened in 1835.

Carnegie Library

A Carnegie library is a library built with money donated by Scottish-American businessman and
philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. 2,509 Carnegie libraries were built between 1833 and 1929,
including some belonging to public and university library systems. 1,689 were built in the United
States, 660 in Britain and Ireland, 125 in Canada, and others in Australia, New Zealand, Serbia, the
Caribbean, and Fiji. Few towns that requested a grant and agreed to his terms were refused. When
the last grant was made in 1919, there were 3,500 libraries in the United States, nearly half of them
built with construction grants paid by Carnegie.
One of the key features of a Carnegie Library was the open stack style. This meant people could
select their own books by browsing, instead of asking of librarian to recommend or furnish them
with books. The varied architectural structures of these libraries were impressive but also inviting.
A public library in a town could be a place people wanted to go and wanted to use, and Carnegie
put most towns to the test in order to determine if he or his philanthropic organizations would
build a library there. The basic test was demonstration of need, commitment to spending certain
funds to maintain the library, and donation of property on which the Carnegie library could be
built.
People may still be familiar with these libraries today because about half of them remain library
buildings. A few haven’t survived things like retrofitting, and others became museums or even
private buildings. The last library built under Carnegie’s program was completed in 1930, several
years after the philanthropist’s death.

Prepare a brief note about Carnegie Library.

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