-
Nation's First Public Library
Benjamin Franklin donated the collection of books that would become the first public library in the country, the Ray Memorial Library in Franklin, Massachusetts. Residents voted to keep the books available for borrowing, and the first lending library was born. -
First Large Public Library
The Boston Public Library was the first large public library in the country. It wasn't until after the Civil War that new libraries began spreading rapidly across the country, making both information and books for pleasure widely available. -
ALA is Founded
The American Library Association, the first professional library association in the world, met for the first time. It was made up of 90 men, including Melvil Dewey, and 13 women. They didn't elect their first female president, Theresa Elmendorf, until 1911. ALA is still going strong today. Their motto, first adopted in 1892, still resonates even now.
The best reading, for the largest number, at the least cost. -
Dewey Decimal System Published
Melvil Dewey, with inspiration from other classification systems, published the Dewey Decimal System. It remains the most widely used library collection organization system worldwide. -
First Library School
Columbia University's School of Library Science, the first library school in the country, was founded by Melvil Dewey. After two years, Dewey moved the school to Albany and renamed it the New York State Library School. I'm sure Dewey would find our current broad access and choice in library schools, and even distance learning, hard to believe. -
Stacks Begin to Transition to Open
At the Denver Public Library, Librarian John Cotton Dana was one of the first to begin the shift from closed to open book stacks. Before this, books were kept away from the public. They had to be requested and brought to patrons by librarians. This shift really put the library in the hands of the patrons. -
First Children's Library
John Cotton Dana opened the first dedicated children's library in the country at the East Denver High School Library. That opened the door for other libraries to follow suit across the country. Today, children's libraries are ubiquitous. -
First Carnegie Library
Andrew Carnegie, nicknamed the "Patron Saint of Libraries", funded the first of 1,795 US public and academic libraries, the Carnegie Library of Pittsburg, in Pennsylvania. By 1920, Carnegie had funded around half of all the public libraries in the country. Carnegie's commitment to learning and access for all changed the landscape of American libraries. -
First Children's Library Association
The Section for Library Work with Children, the first professional organization for children's librarians, was founded. It was later called the Children's Library Association. As more library associations specializing in children were formed, libraries began providing programming to children, not just books and a place to read them. -
First Bookmobile
The very first bookmobile was a horse-drawn wagon driven by the library janitor from the Washington County Public Library in Maryland. The bookmobile was designed by librarian Mary L. Titcomb and held 200 books. It was soon replaced with motorized versions. Bookmobiles became a popular way to get books in the hands of patrons who could not travel to a library. To this day, many libraries deliver books to patrons unable to travel.