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98-581: The Douglass-Truth Branch is a library building and Seattle Public Library branch in Seattle , Washington , United States. Named after Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth , the library houses the West Coast 's largest collection of African-American literature and history . In 2001, the library was designated a Seattle Histroic Landmark by the city. Former Seattle mayor Henry Yesler and his wife Sarah donated land at 1st Avenue and Yesler Way for

196-496: A "Schedule of Questions". The schedule included: Name, status and population of town, Does it have a library? Where is it located and is it public or private? How many books? Is a town-owned site available? Estimation of the community's population at this stage was done by local officials, and Bertram later commented that if the population counts he received were accurate, "the nation's population had mysteriously doubled". The effects of Carnegie's library philanthropy coincided with

294-664: A "rented shop space, clubhouse, or hospital," each with a small, frequently changing collection of books. These book stations were open half-time, and serves one-sixth as many readers as the branch libraries. A bookmobile with 2,500 books serviced two dozen other locations. Also, at this time The Seattle Public Library was a mainstay of the King County Library System (then known as the King County Rural Library District), with 70,000 book loans in 1948 to King County patrons outside

392-523: A 10-year-plan announced an "urgent" need for a $ 1.2 million bond issue to expand the Central Library. In the event, nothing of the sort happened. During the Depression, the Central Library became a refuge for the jobless. Library circulation hit record heights, passing 4 million in 1932. Meanwhile, budgets were cut, employees were laid off, and programs were terminated. The Library's 1939 budget

490-521: A 7-ton curving steel staircase and a modern glass corridor. The firm also hired a paint archaeologist to locate the exact beige color of the original library. Seattle Public Library All but one of Seattle's early purpose-built libraries were Carnegie libraries . Although the central Carnegie library has since been replaced twice, all the purpose-built branches from the early 20th century survive; however, some have undergone significant alterations. Ballard's former Carnegie library has since housed

588-484: A 7-year levy to restore services. The levy enabled all branches to provide Sunday service (15 previously did not), increased the number of branches with 7-day-a-week service from 12 to 14, added to the maintenance and repair fund, and provided new funds to purchase physical materials, electronic content, and additional computer equipment. The library unveiled its proposed rebranding strategy in September 2015, including

686-459: A closed stacks policy, the method of operation common to libraries at that time. Patrons requested a book from a library staffer, who would fetch the book from closed stacks off limits to the public, and bring it to a delivery desk. To reduce operating costs, Carnegie created a revolutionary open-shelf or self-service policy, beginning with the Pittsburgh neighborhood branches that opened after

784-543: A gift that has shaped the minds and lives of millions." In 1897, Carnegie hired James Bertram as his personal assistant. Bertram was responsible for fielding requests from municipalities for funds and overseeing the dispensing of grants for libraries. When Bertram received a letter requesting a library, he sent the applicant a questionnaire inquiring about the town's population, whether it had any other libraries, how large its book collection was, and what its circulation figures were. If initial requirements were met, Bertram asked

882-401: A ladder, as well as sheltered galleries and niches, reminiscent of sixteenth-century Europe, largely because modern librarians could not supervise such spaces efficiently. Bertram 's architectural criteria included a lecture room, reading rooms for adults and children, a staff room, a centrally located librarian's desk, twelve-to-fifteen-foot ceilings, and large windows six to seven feet above

980-473: A library about 1 mile (1.6 km) east of downtown and named after Yesler. It was later renamed as the Douglass–Truth Branch Library . The 1921 opening of the permanent Fremont branch—also funded with Carnegie money—brought this era of great expansion to an end. It would be over three decades before The Seattle Public Library opened another proper branch. Even as early as 1915, the library

1078-528: A library anywhere, a room for children.... The reading rooms were separated by walls that became glass partitions above waist level—the better to see you with, my dear. Walter E. Langsam, an architectural historian and teacher at the University of Cincinnati , wrote "The Carnegie libraries were important because they had open stacks which encouraged people to browse .... People could choose for themselves what books they wanted to read." This open stacks policy

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1176-427: A library card can get up to one and a half hour a day of free computer use; the system accepts reservations for a computer at a particular time at a particular branch. The library has moved to an RFID system for materials, which allows people to check out their materials without assistance, freeing librarians to focus on matters other than circulation. From 1993 to 2004, the library was home to Nancy Pearl , one of

1274-573: A library card. The library also has extensive online resources, which as of 2023 include, among other things, access to historic archives of The Seattle Times , the Seattle Post-Intelligencer , Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce , and The New York Times , as well as the Britannica Library , Kanopy (video streaming), and ProQuest (academic research), plus access to several e-book collections. In 2023,

1372-478: A library, the group petitioned for and received funds from Carnegie. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his 2008 memoirs that he frequently used that library as a boy, before the public library system was desegregated. The library buildings were constructed in a number of styles, including Beaux-Arts , Italian Renaissance , Baroque , Classical Revival , and Spanish Colonial , to enhance their appearance as public buildings. Scottish Baronial

1470-551: A more focused attempt to put together a public library in 1888. They had raised some funds and had even obtained a pledge of land from Henry Yesler , but their efforts were cut short by the Great Seattle Fire of 1889. Nonetheless, encouraged by their ideas, the revised October 1890 city charter formally established the Public Library as a branch of the city government. The ladies' influence can be seen in that

1568-447: A new Seattle library; he later added another $ 20,000 when this budget proved inadequate. The new Carnegie library was built not far from the former university campus, occupying the entire block between 4th and 5th Avenues and between Madison and Spring Streets. The land was purchased for $ 100,000. In August 1903, the city selected a design submitted by P. J. Weber of Chicago for a building to be constructed largely of sandstone . Ground

1666-422: A new central library. The architect firm Schacht-Aslani Architects produced different designs but focused on not overwhelming the existing library or its architecture. The architects suffered through a "personal battle" in the remodel but made a "heroic effort" to consider all possibilities. The remodeled library opened on October 14, 2006, costing roughly $ 6.8 million. The expansion was primarily sub-terrain, with

1764-712: A new name and new logo, that attracted widespread controversy over its cost; the first phase of the project cost $ 365,000 and the total cost would have been $ 1.3 million out of private donations. The board of trustees ultimately rejected the proposal on October 28, 2015, citing negative public feedback and other pressing uses for the funds. A $ 219 million property tax levy was approved by Seattle voters in August 2019 to fund library services, including extended hours at branches, seismic renovations, social services. The levy also included funding to eliminate overdue fines for patrons, which came into effect on January 2, 2020. During

1862-627: A number of restaurants and antique stores among other enterprises, while others such as the Fremont and Green Lake branches have been modernized and remain in use as libraries. As of 2023, the library served 293,000 active patrons, 75,000 new cardholders, 124,000 borrowers of physical materials, and 175,000 borrowers of digital materials. The library answered 234,000 assisted information questions, and it hosted 3,500 classes, events and activities, as well as 341,000 public computer sessions. The Seattle Public Library system consists of 27 branches including

1960-631: A peak in new town development and library expansion in the US. By 1890, many states had begun to take an active role in organizing public libraries, and the new buildings filled a tremendous need. It was also a time of rapid development of institutions of higher learning. Interest in libraries was also heightened at a crucial time in their early development by Carnegie's high profile and his genuine belief in their importance. In Canada in 1901, Carnegie offered more than $ 2.5 million to build 125 libraries. Most cities at first turned him down—then relented and took

2058-637: A prominent doorway, nearly always accessed via a staircase from the ground level. The entry staircase symbolized a person's elevation by learning. Similarly, most libraries had a lamp post or lantern installed near the entrance, meant as a symbol of enlightenment . Carnegie's grants were very large for the era, and his library philanthropy was one of the most costly philanthropic activities, by value, in history. Carnegie continued funding new libraries until shortly before his death in 1919. Libraries were given to towns and cities in Great Britain and much of

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2156-443: A religious viewpoint, arguing that it did not offset his "immoral" accumulation of wealth, and that his contributions did not justify the "evils" Tucker claimed existed in capitalism itself. Carnegie's own steel workers echoed this sentiment, arguing that his wealth would be better spent on improving working conditions for his own employees, rather than on library buildings across the country. Carnegie's response to those criticisms and

2254-613: A survey conducted by George Bobinski, dean of the School of Information and Library Studies at the State University at Buffalo , 1,554 of the 1,681 original Carnegie library buildings in the United States still existed, and 911 were still used as libraries. He found that 276 were unchanged, 286 had been expanded, 175 had been remodeled, 243 had been demolished, and others had been converted to other uses. While hundreds of

2352-441: Is liable to become the prey of a clique. The public ceases to take interest in it, or, rather, never acquires interest in it. The rule has been violated which requires the recipients to help themselves. Everything has been done for the community instead of its being only helped to help itself. Carnegie required the elected officials—the local government—to: Carnegie assigned the decisions to his assistant James Bertram . He created

2450-504: Is to put up a brown-stone buildin' in ivry town in th' counthry." The idea that a building would be the panacea to cure all of society's ills, they argued, was simply not sustainable. A further issue was the impact on pre-existing religious libraries that had promoted learning through free libraries for many years. A typical example is the United Presbyterian Library of Edinburgh, under Robert James Drummond which

2548-673: The Central Library ; it also provides a mobile library system. As of 2023, the Seattle Public Library contained 1.8 million physical items, with 1 million at the Central Library and 814,000 catalogued at the other 26 branches. The total physical collection includes 4.7 million printed books and other printed items; 1.2 million CDs, DVDs, and audiobooks; and 42,000 other items, including laptops, tablets, Wi-Fi hotspots, and Kill A Watt power meters. As of 2011, its special collections include an oral history collection,

2646-518: The International style had swept away the earlier revivalism . Today's Greenwood and North East branches are both expanded versions of 1954 libraries, the latter originally designed by Paul Thiry ; a third library from 1954, the Susan J. Henry branch on Capitol Hill, has been entirely replaced, as has Bindon & Wright's 1960 Central Library. The Seattle Central Library opened in 2004 and

2744-616: The National Register of Historic Places : Columbia (architects: Harlan P. Thomas and W. Marbury Somervell), Fremont (architect: Daniel Riggs Huntington ), Green Lake (architects: W. Marbury Somervell & Joseph S. Cote  [ d ] ), Queen Anne (architects: Harlan P. Thomas and W. Marbury Somervell), University (architects: Somervell & Joseph S. Cote), and West Seattle (architects: W. Marbury Somervell & Joseph S. Cote). The original Ballard branch (architect: Henderson Ryan ) also shares this status, as does

2842-632: The 1930s during the Great Depression, some libraries were meticulously measured, documented and photographed under the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) program of the National Park Service . This was part of an effort to record and preserve significant buildings.. Other documentation has been collected by local historical societies. In 1935, the centennial of Carnegie's birth, a copy of

2940-615: The 1970s and into the 1980s, The Seattle Public Library experienced another period of tight budgets and constricted services, but the picture was never as bleak as in the Great Depression. In 1975 the Yesler Branch—earlier in danger of closing—was renamed as the Douglass-Truth Branch , honoring Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth . That branch features an extensive African American collection. A $ 2.3 million federal grant refurbished and expanded public areas of

3038-439: The 2,000 volumes of the children's collection. Other than those, though, practically the only books salvaged were the 5,000 that were out on circulation at the time. The library operated for a time out of Yesler's barn, which had survived, then moved to a building that had been left behind when the University of Washington had moved from downtown to its present campus. By January 6, Andrew Carnegie had promised $ 200,000 to build

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3136-598: The Anderson Memorial Library, in memory of Colonel John Byers Anderson , at the College of Emporia . Nearly all of Carnegie's libraries were built according to "the Carnegie formula", which required financial commitments for maintenance and operation from the town that received the donation. Carnegie required public support rather than making endowments because, as he wrote: an endowed institution

3234-606: The Carnegie Libraries. The number and nature of documents within the correspondence files varies widely. Such documents may include correspondence, completed applications and questionnaires, newspaper clippings, illustrations, and building dedication programs. UK correspondence files relating to individual libraries have been preserved in Edinburgh (see the article List of Carnegie libraries in Europe ). Beginning in

3332-595: The Central Library in 1979. Another federal grant gave $ 1.2 million for the Rainier Beach Branch (1981). In the late 1980s, a $ 4.6 million project restored the Library's six Carnegie branches; this project was recognized with an honor from the National Trust for Historic Preservation . Meanwhile, capping the career of Library Board president Virginia Burnside, The Seattle Public Library Foundation

3430-612: The Collins Block. By 1895, the budget situation was so dire that Smith initially experimented with charging borrowers ten cents to borrow a book; the experiment was a failure and in 1896 the library moved to the Rialto, a building farther north on Second Avenue, far enough north that at that time it stood outside of Seattle's core. As the city grew out, that building was later occupied by the Frederick and Nelson department store. At

3528-764: The English-speaking world: Almost $ 56.2 million went for construction of 2,509 libraries worldwide. Of that, $ 40 million was given for construction of 1,670 public library buildings in 1,412 American communities. Small towns received grants of $ 10,000 that enabled them to build large libraries that immediately were among the most significant town amenities in hundreds of communities. Books and libraries were important to Carnegie, from his early childhood in Scotland and his teen years in Allegheny and Pittsburgh. There he listened to readings and discussions of books from

3626-452: The Henry L. Yesler Memorial Library opened, with mayor Hiram Gill as the guest of honor. The library cost around $ 40,000 to construct, and it was the only branch at the time paid by city funds and not a gift from Andrew Carnegie . The library was popular in the area, especially for Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe and Russia and Japanese immigrants. By the 1930s, the library was home to

3724-512: The Rialto, the library for the first time moved to an open-stacks policy, where users could browse through the shelves for themselves instead of presenting a request to a librarian. In 1898 the library moved again to the former Yesler Mansion, a forty-room building on the site that would later become the King County Courthouse . Meanwhile, in 1896, the library established a bindery , and a new city charter drastically decreased

3822-598: The South. For example, in Houston he funded a separate Colored Carnegie Library. The Carnegie Library in Savannah, Georgia , opened in 1914 to serve Black residents, who had been excluded from the segregated White public library. The privately organized Colored Library Association of Savannah had raised money and collected books to establish a small Library for Colored Citizens . Having demonstrated their willingness to support

3920-638: The Tradesman's Subscription Library, which his father had helped create. Later in Pennsylvania, while working for the local telegraph company in Pittsburgh, Carnegie borrowed books from the personal library of Colonel James Anderson (1785-1861). He opened his collection to his workers every Saturday. Anderson, like Carnegie, resided in Allegheny. In his autobiography, Carnegie credited Anderson with providing an opportunity for "working boys" (that some people said should not be "entitled to books") to acquire

4018-472: The US. Patricia Lowry describes located just beyond the lobby, the circulation desk—no longer a delivery desk—took center stage in Lawrenceville, flanked by turnstiles that admitted readers to the open stacks one at a time, under the librarian's watchful eye. To thwart thievery, the stacks were arranged in a radial pattern. On each side of the lobby were a general reading room and, for the first time in

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4116-720: The United States, 660 in the United Kingdom and Ireland, 125 in Canada, and 25 others in Australia , South Africa , New Zealand , Serbia, Belgium, France, the Caribbean, Mauritius, Malaysia, and Fiji. At first, Carnegie libraries were almost exclusively in places with which he had a personal connection—namely his birthplace in Scotland and the Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania area, his adopted hometown. Yet, beginning in

4214-494: The amount the town was willing to pledge for the library's annual maintenance, whether a site was being provided, and the amount of money already available. Until 1898, only one library was commissioned in the United States outside Southwestern Pennsylvania : a library in Fairfield, Iowa , commissioned in 1892. It was the first project in which Carnegie had funded a library to which he had no personal ties. The Fairfield project

4312-562: The beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the library closed all of its branches and in-person services, operating exclusively with curbside pickup at some locations beginning in August. Five branches were reopened in April to provide public bathrooms to unsheltered and homeless people in the city, but other services remained closed. The first branches reopened on April 27, 2021, and

4410-567: The blind in the country west of the Mississippi River , the other two being in San Francisco and Portland, Oregon . In 1915 this collection had 698 volumes. In 1916, 67,097 people borrowed books from the library. That was 19 per cent of the population of the city. At that time the system appears to have had more total points of contact with the public than today, though few of these were proper branches. A civics textbook from

4508-544: The charter required that at least two of the five library commissioners be women. The library was funded by a 10% share of city fines, penalties, and licenses. The first library opened April 8, 1891 as a reading room on the third floor of the Occidental Block—later the Seattle Hotel —supervised by librarian A. J. Snoke. By December 1891 when books were first allowed to be borrowed, it had 6,541 volumes. Snoke

4606-421: The cities stocked and maintained them. As a result, small communities often struggled with maintenance costs associated with Carnegie libraries; towns were often happy to accept funding for new library buildings, but often unwilling to allocate taxes for upkeep. In fact, this was the most frequent complaint about Carnegie libraries in hindsight: gifting libraries to towns too small to support them actually slowed

4704-743: The city of Ballard brought with it another already established Carnegie library, and a further Carnegie donation of $ 70,000 in 1911 built the Queen Anne branch (opened 1914) and the Columbia Branch (opened December 31, 1915 in Columbia City ). The land in the Central District donated by Henry Yesler to the Ladies' Library Association was traded to the parks department and the money was city funds were used to buy land and erect

4802-415: The city to build a library. The land was too small to build a library, so the library board sold the land and used the proceeds to purchase a parcel on 23rd Avenue and Yesler Way. Architects Harlan Thomas and Woodruff Marbury Somervell designed the building in an Italian Renaissance style and was covered with buff tapestry brick, terra cotta trimmings, and a roof of red mission brick. On September 15, 1914,

4900-453: The city. By mid-century, The Seattle Public Library circulated a lot more than books. Even in its early years, the library collection had included items such as sheet music. By 1948, the circulating collection included 3,500 phonograph records, which were borrowed a total of 53,000 times that year, as well as 6,000 pieces of sheet music, 6,000 song books and piano albums, 200 reproductions of famous paintings, and 27,000 other pictures. In 1950,

4998-614: The construction of the Carnegie library in Atlanta in 1902, the proposed library, a segregated one, was fought by numerous activists of the period, including W. E. B. Du Bois . In the years following, as the American Library Association continued to ignore the systematic implementation of Jim Crow in the South, the Carnegie Corporation also continued to acquiesce to the social norms of

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5096-678: The construction of the Southwest Branch (1961), a new Ballard Branch (1963; later Abraxus Books ), and the Magnolia Branch (1964). The Magnolia Branch was designed by Paul Hayden Kirk and incorporates the Japanese influences found in much Northwest architecture of the era. The bond issue also bought the land for the Broadview Branch, but did not provide the funds to build it; that branch finally opened in 1976. In

5194-402: The correspondence files relating to Andrew Carnegie's gifts and grants to communities for the public libraries and church organs. They discarded the original materials. The microfilms are open for research as part of the Carnegie Corporation of New York Records collection, residing at Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Archivists did not microfilm photographs and blueprints of

5292-552: The day and even required communities seeking grants to base their appropriations "only upon the White population of the towns." Carnegie established charitable trusts which have continued his philanthropic work. But they had reduced their investment in libraries even before his death. There has continued to be support for library projects, for example in South Africa . In 1992, The New York Times reported that, according to

5390-464: The development of cooperative regional libraries that those communities now rely on. Some critics also saw his massive donations as insulting to communities that would be content to fund their own public works. Others saw his push for public libraries as merely an attempt at social control. Mark Twain , a supporter of Carnegie, claimed that Carnegie used philanthropy as a tool to buy fame. William Jewett Tucker criticized Carnegie's philanthropy from

5488-467: The ensuing Homestead Steel Strike was telling of what he thought of his workers' concerns: "If I had raised your wages, you would have spent that money by buying a better cut of meat or more drink for your dinner. But what you needed, though you didn't know it, was my libraries and concert halls." Carnegie's critics can be most efficiently summed up in the words of Finley Peter Dunne 's parody of Carnegie himself: "Th' way to abolish poverty an' bust crime

5586-517: The era indicates the library's points of contact with the public as "the central library, 9 branch libraries, 8 drug store deposit stations, 32 fire-engine houses, 420 school rooms in 77 schools, 3 play grounds and 8 special deposit stations." Seattle suffered heavily in the Great Depression . The Library's official website describes the Library as having been "pummeled" in this period of "soaring demands and evaporating resources". In 1930,

5684-627: The establishment of 75–80 percent of the libraries in communities across the country. Carnegie believed in giving to the "industrious and ambitious; not those who need everything done for them, but those who, being most anxious and able to help themselves, deserve and will be benefited by help from others." Under segregation, Black people were generally denied access to public libraries in the Southern United States . Rather than insisting on his libraries being racially integrated, Carnegie funded separate libraries for African Americans in

5782-605: The few celebrity librarians in the English-speaking world. Pearl's Book Lust book series and her much-imitated "If All Seattle Read the Same Book" project (now called "Seattle Reads") resulted in her being perhaps the only librarian who has ever been honored with an action figure . After the Great Recession resulted in eight separate operating budget cuts between 2009 and 2012, in November 2012 Seattle voters passed

5880-503: The final branch reopened in October. The library system incurred an estimated $ 434,188 in property damage during the pandemic, particularly at the Central Library. The library's checkout and online services were shut down by a ransomware attack in late May 2024 after a period of scheduled maintenance. Branch services remained open and some online services were restored by May 29. By August, most online services had been restored, with

5978-640: The first Carnegie Music Hall in the world. The first Carnegie library to open in the United States was in Braddock , Pennsylvania, about 9 miles up the Monongahela River from Pittsburgh. In 1889, it was also the site of one of the Carnegie Steel Company 's mills. It was the second Carnegie Library in the United States to be commissioned, in 1887, and was the first of the four libraries which he fully endowed. An 1893 addition doubled

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6076-638: The first buildings in Seattle to incorporate green architecture. The library is equipped with solar panels to reduce its electricity demands, as well as a green roof, which provides insulation to the building, and also serves to reduce stormwater runoff. Carnegie library 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

6174-436: The first-ever escalator in an American library, a drive-up window for book pick-ups and was Seattle's first public building to incorporate significant new works of art. Among the artists represented were James FitzGerald , Glen Alps , and Ray Jensen. It also incorporated a fountain by sculptor George Tsutakawa , the first of many fountains Tsutakawa would construct over the remainder of his career. The new library energized

6272-566: The floor. No architectural style was recommended for the exterior, nor was it necessary to put Andrew Carnegie's name on the building. In the interests of efficiency, fireplaces were discouraged, since that wall space could be used to house more books. There were no strict requirements about furniture, but most of it came from the Library Bureau , established by Melvil Dewey in 1888. It sold standardized chairs, tables, catalogs, and bookshelves. The first five Carnegie libraries followed

6370-514: The front door. Bigger and more daunting than those used in modern libraries, these desks spanned almost the width of the lobby and acted as a physical and psychological barrier between the front entrance and the book room. The first of these "open stack" branches was in Lawrenceville, the sixth Carnegie library to open in America. The next was in the West End branch, the eighth Carnegie library in

6468-523: The goal of all online services being available by the end of August. Many of The Seattle Public Library's facilities are notable works of architecture. They reflect the aesthetics of several very different periods. The various former Carnegie libraries and the Douglass-Truth library all date from a single period of two decades in the early 20th century. No further branch libraries were built between 1921 and 1954, and when branch construction resumed,

6566-443: The knowledge to improve themselves. Carnegie's personal experience as an immigrant, who with help from others worked his way and became wealthy, reinforced his belief in a society based on merit, where anyone who worked hard could become successful. This conviction was a major element of his philosophy of giving in general. His libraries were the best-known expression of this philanthropic goal. In 1900, Carnegie granted funds to build

6664-586: The library buildings have been adapted for use as museums, community centers, office buildings, residences, or other uses, more than half of those in the United States still serve their communities as libraries over a century after their construction. Many are located in what are now middle- to low-income neighborhoods. For example, Carnegie libraries still form the nucleus of the New York Public Library system in New York City , with 31 of

6762-428: The library circulated 7.4 million digital items, including 5.5 million e-book and e-audiobooks. Through Books Unbanned , these online resources are available to youth ages 13 to 21 throughout the United States. Seattle's first attempt to start a library association occurred at a meeting of 50 residents on July 30, 1868, but produced only minimal success over the next two decades. The Ladies' Library Association began

6860-447: The library subscribed to 200 newspapers (mostly from Washington State) and 1,700 periodicals. The city finally passed its first-ever library bond issue in 1956. This funded, among other things, a new $ 4.5 million, 206,000-square-foot (19,100 m ) central library, designed in the International style by the Seattle firm of Bindon & Wright, and built on the same site as its Carnegie predecessor. Dedicated March 26, 1960, it featured

6958-533: The library system's Yiddish, Hebrew, and Japanese collections and featured books in 13 languages. The Japanese collection was removed after the Pearl Harbor bombing, and the Yiddish and Hebrew collections were removed in the 1960s. Through the 1940s and 50s, the library updated its collection to try and accommodate the influx of African Americans who moved into the Central District after World War II . In

7056-579: The library was renamed to the Douglass-Truth Branch in honor of Abolitionist leaders Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth . The name was chosen because Douglass and Truth received the same number of votes from the community in a contest. In 1987, the Douglass-Truth Branch underwent a $ 790,000 renovation using funds from a 1984 bond levy. In 1998, Seattle voters approved the $ 196.4 million Libraries for All levy to remodel all existing libraries, build an additional five branches and build

7154-452: The library was simply not used nearly as much in this era as in the Depression years. While the city's population had grown from 368,000 to 463,000 since 1932, only 2.4 million books were being borrowed annually, as against over 4 million. Bond issue votes to build a more modern central library failed in 1950 and 1952. At mid-century, The Seattle Public Library had numerous "book stations" for areas with no branch as such, in locations such as

7252-434: The main branch. This streamlined process allowed patrons to have open access to shelves. Carnegie's architects designed the Pittsburgh neighborhood branches so that one librarian could oversee each entire operation. Theft of books and other items was a major concern. This concern resulted in the placement of the library's circulation desk—which replaced the delivery desk used in traditional closed stacks libraries—just inside

7350-814: The mid-1960s, the central library administration threatened to close the Yesler Library due to declining circulation and turn the library into support for the bookmobile. In 1965, the local chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, Black Friends of the Yesler Library, and community members established the Negro Life and History Collection, now called the African American collection. The community groups collected donations and asked people to donate African American works held in private collections. Council member Sam Smith ensured that $ 46,000

7448-541: The middle of 1899, Carnegie substantially increased funding to libraries outside these areas. As Carnegie's library funding progressed, very few of the towns that requested a grant, committing to his terms for operation and maintenance, were refused. By the time the last grant was made, there were 3,500 libraries in the United States, nearly half of them Carnegie libraries. Carnegie started erecting libraries in places with which he had personal associations. The first of Carnegie's public libraries, Dunfermline Carnegie Library ,

7546-687: The money. In 1902, Carnegie offered funds to build a library in Dunedin in New Zealand . Between 1908 and 1916, 18 Carnegie libraries were opened across New Zealand. The Lawrenceville Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh signaled a break from the Richardsonian style of libraries which was popularized in the mid 1800s. The ALA discouraged Richardsonian characteristics such as alcoved book halls with high shelves requiring

7644-503: The old Wallingford Fire and Police Station (architect: Daniel Riggs Huntington), which housed a branch library from 1986 to 2000. In addition, several buildings have been designated as landmarks by the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board : Columbia, Douglass-Truth, Fremont, Green Lake, Lake City, Magnolia, North East, Queen Anne, University, and West Seattle. The new Ballard Branch is also one of

7742-558: The original 39 buildings still in operation; Carnegie Libraries operate in all 5 Boroughs of New York City across its three library systems. Also, the main library and eighteen branches of the Pittsburgh public library system are Carnegie libraries. The public library system there is named the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh . In the late 1940s, the Carnegie Corporation of New York arranged for microfilming of

7840-480: The portrait of him originally painted by F. Luis Mora was given to libraries which he had helped fund. Many of the Carnegie libraries in the United States, whatever their current uses, have been recognized by listing on the National Register of Historic Places . The first, the Carnegie Library in Braddock, Pennsylvania , was designated as a National Historic Landmark in March 2012. Some Carnegie Libraries, have been replaced in name with that of city libraries such as

7938-497: The power of the library commission and removed the requirement of its having female members. This greatly increased Smith's power, a change which he himself opposed; in 1902 a new Library Board would be established, again gaining supervisory rather than merely advisory power. On the night of January 1, 1901, the Yesler Mansion burned taking most of the library collection with it. The library records were salvaged, along with

8036-573: The public library system. The library's official web site writes that "the atmosphere in the opening weeks was likened to a department store during the holiday shopping season. The new Central Library loaned out almost 1 million volumes in its first nine months, a 31 percent increase over the previous year's circulation." A library that had been "struggling with disinterest in a shabby headquarters" now found itself "loved to tatters," with greater demand than it could readily satisfy. The 1956 bond issue also provided $ 500,000 for branch libraries. This paid for

8134-753: The size of the building and included the third Carnegie Music Hall in the United States. Initially Carnegie limited his support to a few towns in which he had a personal interest. These were in Scotland and the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area. In the United States, nine of the first 13 libraries which he commissioned are all located in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The Braddock, Homestead , and Duquesne libraries were owned not by municipalities, but by Carnegie Steel, which constructed them, maintained them, and delivered coal for their heating systems. "To this day, Carnegie's free-to-the-people libraries remain Pittsburgh's most significant cultural export,

8232-480: The square footage in Seattle's libraries, including the building of new branches and a new Central Library. As of 2006, The Seattle Public Library system had 699 staff members (538 full-time equivalents). It circulated 3,151,840 adult books, 1,613,979 children's books, 570,316 WTBBL materials, and 3,895,444 other media (CDs, DVDs, videotapes, etc.) Staff members answered more than 1 million reference questions. The system also provides 1,134 public computers. Anyone with

8330-601: The state document depository, the federal document depository, an aviation history collection, genealogy records, and historical documents about Seattle. A room on the seventh floor of the Central Library houses the ZAPP Zine Collection, over 30,000 zines donated by Richard Hugo House , where it used to constitute the Zine Archive and Publishing Project collection. In addition all locations have uncatalogued collections of books that can be borrowed without

8428-447: Was $ 40,000 less than its 1931 budget. The Library's 50th anniversary in 1941 occasioned the foundation of Friends of The Seattle Public Library. The economic revival brought about by World War II , and the post-war prosperity, began to bring the library out of its institutional stagnation. Seattle spent $ 400,000 on a book stack addition to the Central Library in 1949, and three modern new branch libraries were built in 1954. Nonetheless,

8526-463: Was affected following the opening of the Carnegie Library in the city centre. In addition to the criticisms of his philanthropic interests and motivations, the construction of libraries in the American South was a highly contentious topic. State and local racial segregations laws across the South sought to bar African Americans access to public facilities, including libraries and when funding

8624-613: Was appropriated to the collection, and by 1969, a third of the library circulation was African American literature and history. Today, the collection holds more than 10,000 items, including literature, art, and other historical items. Soul Pole was donated to the library by the Rotary Boys Club in 1972.. The Soul Pole was carved from a telephone pole by members of the Rotary Boys Club in 1969. Its meant to represent 400 years of African American history and injustice. On December 5, 1975, mayor Wesley C. Uhlman proclaimed that

8722-450: Was broken in spring 1905 and the library was dedicated December 19, 1906. Shortly after moving to these new permanent quarters, Smith was succeeded in 1907 by Judson T. Jennings . Meanwhile, the library began to grow in other respects. A reference department had been established in 1899. In 1903 a position was established for a children's librarian. In 1904 a plan was established to grow eventually to 12 departments. The periodical division

8820-641: Was collecting books not only in English but in many other languages spoken in Seattle (though all of the languages collected at that time were European: there were as yet no Asian language collections). In 1915, the library had collections in Croatian , "Dano-Norwegian" ( Bokmål ), Finnish , French , German , Italian , Lithuanian , Modern Greek , Russian , Spanish , Swedish , and Yiddish . Ten other languages were also lightly represented. </ref> Seattle also had established one of only three collections for

8918-590: Was designed by Rem Koolhaas and Joshua Prince-Ramus of the Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in a joint venture with LMN Architects and Front Inc.  [ d ] Facade Consultants. In 2007, the building was voted #108 on the American Institute of Architects ' (AIA) list of Americans' 150 favorite structures in the U.S. The building received a 2005 national AIA Honor Award for Architecture. Six current Seattle branch libraries are on

9016-598: Was established in 1906, the art division in 1907, and the technology division in 1912. Branch libraries had opened in rented quarters in Fremont (1903), Green Lake (1905), and the University District (1908). In 1908, Carnegie donated $ 105,000 to build permanent branches in the University District, Green Lake, and West Seattle (all of which opened in summer 1910). The annexation by Seattle of

9114-525: Was established in 1980 to increase outside financial support of the Library. By the mid-1990s, during the dot-com boom years, annual donations exceeded $ 1 million, while library circulation passed 5 million items annually. In 1998, Seattle voters, with an unprecedented 69 percent approval rate, approved the largest library bond issue then ever submitted in the United States. The $ 196 million "Libraries for All" bond measure , along with private funds raised by The Seattle Public Library Foundation, nearly doubled

9212-484: Was in his birthplace, Dunfermline , Scotland. It was first commissioned or granted by Carnegie in 1880 to James Campbell Walker and would open in 1883. The first library in the United States to be commissioned by Carnegie was in 1886 in his adopted hometown of Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now the North Side of Pittsburgh ). In 1890, it became the second of his libraries to open in the US. The building also contained

9310-476: Was later adopted by the libraries that previously had operated with closed stacks. The first secretary of the Iowa Library Commission, Alice S. Taylor, criticized the use of Carnegie funding for extravagant buildings rather than providing quality library services. Carnegie's funds covered only the library buildings themselves, and Carnegie gave library buildings to cities on the condition that

9408-420: Was one of the styles used for libraries in Carnegie's native Scotland. Each style was chosen by the community. As the years went by James Bertram , Carnegie's secretary, became less tolerant of approving designs that were not to his taste. Edward Lippincott Tilton , a friend often recommended by Bertram, designed many of the buildings. The architecture was typically simple and formal, welcoming patrons through

9506-489: Was part of a new funding model to be used by Carnegie (through Bertram) for thousands of additional libraries. Beginning in 1899, Carnegie's foundation funded a dramatic increase in the number of libraries. This coincided with the rise of women's clubs in the post-Civil War period. They primarily took the lead in organizing local efforts to establish libraries, including long-term fundraising and lobbying within their communities to support operations and collections. They led

9604-498: Was succeeded in 1893 by John D. Atkinson, who was succeeded in 1895 by Charles Wesley Smith, who remained in the position until 1907. Smith took over a library that, like all of Seattle, had been seriously impacted by the Panic of 1893 : by 1895 its annual budget was only half of what it had been that first year. In its first decade or so, the growing library "developed the traveling habit". In June 1894, it moved across Second Avenue to

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