Houston Public Library

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Jesse H. Jones Building

Julia Ideson Building

Freed-Montrose Neighborhood Library

Heights Neighborhood Library

Looscan Neighborhood Library in River Oaks

Jungman Neighborhood Library

McGovern-Stella Link Neighborhood Library, located in the Braeswood Place neighborhood

Meyer Neighborhoood Library

Houston Public Library is the public library system serving Houston, Texas, United States.

It can trace its founding to the Houston Lyceum in 1854. After a large contribution from Andrew Carnegie it was chartered as the Houston Lyceum and Carnegie Library in 1904. Julia Ideson was named its first librarian. The building constructed as Houston's Central Library in 1926 was later named in her honor.

The name was changed to Houston Public Library in the 1920s.

The library system now consists of 36 neighborhood libraries; including four regional libraries; the Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research, located in the Museum District; and the Central Library, located Downtown. Central Library, often incorrectly called the "Downtown Library", consists of the Julia Ideson Building and the Jesse H. Jones Building (1976). The Jones Building was designed by Seth Irvin Morris ([1]) The Jones Building closed for renovations in April 2006. It reopened May 31, 2008. The newest addition to the library system is the HPL Express Southwest: Houston Public Library has opened HPL Express Southwest, located in the Southwest Multi-Service Center at 6400 High Star in west Houston.

Over the past several years three new library buildings have been constructed and many others have been renovated. The newest location is the McGovern-Stella Link Neighborhood Library, which opened in January 2005. The Looscan Neighborhood Library in the River Oaks neighborhood opened in September 2007. The old non-Americans with Disabilities Act compliant library, which was opened in 1956, closed on August 27, 2005 and was demolished in February 2006.

1 Locations
- 1.1 Former locations
2 Gallery
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Locations

In addition to the Central Library and Clayton Library, there are 36 neighborhood libraries, including four regional libraries, all located within the city of Houston.

Acres Homes Neighborhood Library (Acres Homes)
Bracewell Neighborhood Library
Carnegie Neighborhood Library
Collier Regional Library
Dixon Neighborhood Library
Fifth Ward Neighborhood Library (Fifth Ward)
Flores Neighborhood Library (Second Ward)
Frank Neighborhood Library (Fondren Southwest)
Freed-Montrose Neighborhood Library (Neartown)
Heights Neighborhood Library (Houston Heights)
Henington-Alief Regional Library (Alief)
Hillendahl Neighborhood Library (Spring Branch)
Johnson Neighborhood Library (Sunnyside)
Jungman Neighborhood Library (Uptown)
Kendall Neighborhood Library (Memorial)
Lakewood Neighborhood Library
Looscan Neighborhood Library (River Oaks)
Mancuso Neighborhood Library
McCrane-Kashmere Gardens Neighborhood Library (Kashmere Gardens)
McGovern-Stella Link Neighborhood Library (Braeswood Place)
Melcher Neighborhood Library
Meyer Neighborhood Library (Meyerland/Westbury)
Moody Neighborhood Library
Oak Forest Neighborhood Library (Oak Forest)
Park Place Regional Library (Park Place)
Pleasantville Neighborhood Library (Pleasantville)
Ring Neighborhood Library (Spring Branch)
Robinson-Westchase Neighborhood Library (Westchase)
Scenic Woods Regional Library (Scenic Woods)
Smith Neighborhood Library (Third Ward)
Stanaker Neighborhood Library
Stimley-Blue Ridge Neighborhood Library (Blue Ridge)
Tuttle Neighborhood Library (Denver Harbor)
Vinson Neighborhood Library
Walter Neighborhood Library (Sharpstown)
Young Neighborhood Library (Palm Center, near South Park)

In addition, HPL has a partnership with the Harris County Public Library's Clear Lake City-County Freeman Branch Library in the Clear Lake City community of Houston.

Also, the Parent Resource Library in the Children's Museum of Houston is considered part of the Houston Public Library system; however, its staff are employed by the museum, rather than the City of Houston.

In partnership with the Harris County Public Library, which will operate the branch, the Kingwood Branch in Kingwood is slated to become a "City-County" branch in exchange for 4.2 million dollars to fund the building of a new 35,000-square-foot (3,300 m²) facility. At the time of its completion, the existing branch will be converted into a community center.^[1]

[edit] Former locations

Colored Carnegie Library (Opened 1912, became HPL branch in 1921, officially closed on July 31, 1961, demolished 1962 and replaced with an extension of Clay Avenue)