District of Columbia Public Library
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| District of Columbia Public Library
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| Location | Washington, D.C. |
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| Established | 1896 |
| Number of branches | 27 |
| Population served | 581,530 |
| Director | Chief Librarian Ginnie Cooper |
| Website | www.dclibrary.org |
The District of Columbia Public Library (DCPL) is the public library system for residents of Washington, D.C. The system includes 27 individual libraries including Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library (the central library), 21 neighborhood libraries, four "community libraries", and a kiosk.[1]
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[edit] History
The library was founded in 1896 by an act of Congress after a lobbying effort by Theodore W. Noyes, editor of the Washington Evening Star newspaper. Noyes served on the library's board of trustees for 50 years.
The first library was first located in a home at 1326 New York Avenue NW. This was replaced by a main library, donated by Andrew Carnegie, built at Mount Vernon Square which later housed the City Museum of Washington, D.C. President Theodore Roosevelt attended the dedication of this building in 1903.[2] Several of the branch libraries still in use were also built with funds donated by Carnegie.
In 1972, the main library was replaced by a Mies van der Rohe-designed building dedicated as a memorial to Martin Luther King, Jr.
