I remember getting my first library card. I was six years old, and had to stretch to reach the check-out counter. My mother brought me to the library every week so we could check out books. But I wanted to be a big girl and do it myself. There was, however, an obstacle. The librarian wouldn’t issue me my own card until I could print my name, and printing wasn’t my strong suit. The day I succeeded was a milestone in my life. I still went to the library with my mother, but I could check out my own books.
Every time a research library grants me access to its magic, I mentally echo Lucy Van Pelt’s declaration in Peanuts: “Happiness is having your own library card.”
At the time, I had no idea how important libraries would be in my life. Public Libraries. School Libraries. University Libraries. Research Libraries. And now, On-Line Libraries. I really like libraries. I like finding information. I like the quiet. I like nodding at other patrons, each on their own quest for knowledge. Even now when I do much of my research via online portals, I still like physical libraries and all they represent.
National Library Week, April 6-12
Growing up, I thought everyone had access to a library. This was and is hardly the case. Those who could afford it had private libraries. Ever wondered about the libraries in stately homes like Downton Abbey? The books were collected over generations. Publishers printed catalogs they sent to their patrons. When enough people subscribed to the book, the publisher printed it, sent it, and the patron added the new volume to his or her library.
Today we assume that public libraries are available and free to use. We expect them to provide more than books – though we often don’t provide adequate resources for the tasks we expect. Libraries provide computer and internet access for those who don’t have such personal luxuries. They offer meeting spaces. Librarians still offer story hour for children. Libraries allow those without shelter to access heat in winter and air conditioning in summer. Seventy-five percent of public libraries offer career services. Libraries also offer classes in English as a Second Language and General Education Development courses leading to a high school equivalency diploma. To celebrate these and innumerable other services offered by public libraries, the American Library Association sponsors National Library Week.
The First American Subscription Library
Libraries open to the general public didn’t always exist. The first library in America was a subscription library in Philadelphia founded by Benjamin Franklin and other members of his Junto club. Also known as the Leather Apron Club, Franklin established Junto in 1727 as a venue for the mutual improvement of its members. The twelve members discussed questions of morals, politics, and natural philosophy. Initially, the club met at Nicholas Scull’s Bear Tavern.
In their broad ranging discussions, members often disputed among themselves about facts that could be investigated in a decent library. Books were too expensive for any one member to have an adequate private library. However, if members pooled their resources they could purchase books and share them among themselves. On November 10, 1731, ten members paid forty shillings each to establish the Library Company of Philadelphia. The Library Company still exists as a non-profit research library in Philadelphia.
Andrew Carnegie’s Library Endowments
In 1848 Andrew Carnegie and his parents emigrated to Pennsylvania where he began his professional career as a bobbin boy in a textile mill. He worked twelve hours a day, six days a week. His wage was $1.20 per week [about $44.00 today]. In 1849 Carnegie became a telegraph messenger boy earning $94.00 per week, a substantial raise. Carnegie did well at his new job, but what changed his life was Colonel James Anderson’s decision to open his personal library of 400 books to working boys every Saturday night. Carnegie went every week, and resolved that if he became wealthy, he would provide similar opportunities to other working boys.
As it turned out, Carnegie became a self-made millionaire. In 1901, Carnegie sold his shares of U. S. Steel Corporation for $225.64 million [about $8.53 billion today], and embarked on a new career as a philanthropist.
In particular, Carnegie established over 3,000 libraries around the world. The first Carnegie Library opened in 1883 in Carnegie’s home town of Dunfermline, Scotland. Two years later, Carnegie donated $500,000 to establish a public library in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Carnegie had specific criteria for his library donations, and would only build and furnish a library if the city agreed to maintain and staff it. In keeping with Carnegie’s belief that dispensing wealth to benefit society must support the community’s responsibility, funds were granted only after the local government provided a site for the library and passed a law that future book purchases and staffing would be paid for through local taxes. Carnegie also required his libraries to be public libraries with no costs for patrons.
Requests for funding came from all over the country, with justifications ranging from a need to counteract the influence of saloons to providing the same resources as a rival town. Carnegie donated over $60 million to support libraries.
But, How Can I Locate A Specific Book?
At the time public libraries became more common, patrons could not wander the closed stacks to find a book. They had to ask a librarian for assistance. Traditionally, any book acquired by a library was assigned a specific permanent place on the shelf which might be based on the book’s height or date of acquisition. Consequently, library stacks were generally closed to patrons. No idle wandering allowed.
There were, however, book catalogs that listed every book in the library. The catalog might be a handwritten ledger or a printed pamphlet. In the late 18th century small cards or paper slips replaced the ledger. The first catalog cards might have been French playing cards which were blank on one side. In 1791, French bibliophiles developed the French Cataloging Code which in 1876 evolved into the Dewey decimal system which is still used in smaller libraries. Open shelving for public perusal became practical.
Melvil Dewey, a founding member of the American Library Association, developed a system based on decimal numbers so books could be shelved in relation to other books. His work led to the Library Bureau, an entity that focused on machine cut index cards and the trays and cabinets that contain them. With the new system, library location designations became standard, and patrons looking for books on a specific topic perused the cards that directed them to a book’s location. As a history major and graduate student, I spent many hours collecting location information from the card catalog before heading for the stacks.
Meanwhile, the Library of Congress developed its own classification system which is now in use at most academic and research libraries. Even as Dewey developed his classification system, librarians at the Library of Congress with over a million volumes to classify found the new system too restrictive and began developing their own system in 1897.
Without libraries what have we? We have no past & no future. —Ray Bradbury
In our present cultural climate, libraries and public access to information are increasingly under attack with school libraries and public libraries the most affected. According to the American Library Association, in 2023 pressure groups targeting targeting school and public libraries emphasized books representing the voices of black, indigenous and people of color [BIPOC], and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual [LGBTQIA].
“Every challenge to a library book is an attack on our freedom to read.”
— Emily Drabinski, ALA President 2023-2024.
Celebrate National Library Week next week
Visit your local public library & see everything they offer. It’s free.
Monday, April 7 — Right to Read Day
Tuesday, April 8 — National Library Workers Day
Wednesday, April 9 — National Library Outreach Day
Thursday, April 10 — Take Action for Libraries Day
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Sandra’s Books: Sea Tigers & Merchants. Ambition, Arrogance & Pride. Saxon Heroines. Two Coins. Rama’s Labyrinth.
Illustrations & A Few Sources
Child Reading, from A Child’s Garden of Verses, by Jessie Willcox Smith 1905; “Drawn to the Library” National Library Week shared by ALA; Abbotsford House Library by Michael D. Beckwith; Benjamin Franklin 1767; Andrew Carnegie 1895; Andrew Carnegie’s Philanthropy as a Gold Shower by Louis Dalrymple, 1903; Melvil Dewey, 1891; Card Catalog at Univ of Michigan Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library by Elizabeth Skene. “Banned & Challenged Books.” American Library Association. Georgia Jensen. “Public Libraries are Essential Resources.” truthout. July 7, 2024.
