Miami-Dade Public Library

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The Miami-Dade Public Library is a system of libraries in Miami, Florida and Miami-Dade County in the United States.

Contents

[edit] History

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The Miami-Dade Public Library System traces its origin to the late nineteenth century. In 1894 libraries were organized in the communities of Cocoanut Grove (original spelling) and Lemon City. In 1902 the Cocoanut Grove Library Association provided a structure, and that same year the Lemon City Library and Improvement Association erected a building for its library.

The City of Miami’s library was founded through the efforts of the Ladies’ Afternoon Club which later became the Woman’s Club of Miami. Its purpose was “reading and the discussion of literature.” By 1905 the Club was trying to provide a public reading room for its collection of books. The Club had no permanent home and for a number of years the reading room moved from place to place, as often as six times in a single year! By 1913 the Miami Woman’s Club had its own building located at the corner of today’s Southeast Second Avenue and Flagler Street (then Avenue B and Twelfth Street) on property donated by Henry Morrison Flagler. His gift of land for the construction of a clubhouse contained a proviso that a public reading room be maintained in the building. Reliable financial support for the library was a continuing problem and in 1915 the Miami City Commission was convinced of its responsibility to support the library and $50 each month was allocated to its support. This downtown location was later sold and the Miami Woman’s Club erected its current building at 1737 North Bayshore Drive. The Flagler Memorial Library was established in this new building. By 1925 the communities of Cocoanut Grove and Lemon City had been annexed into the City of Miami. The first bookmobile was proudly pictured in the Miami Herald of January 5, 1928.

The first public library serving the Black community was the Dunbar Branch at 2059 N. W. 6 Court established March 14, 1938 by the Friendship Garden Club assisted by the Miami Woman’s Club. While the Dunbar Branch was being used, the Friendship Garden Club and the Washington Heights Library Association raised part of the funds to build a new library building. The City of Miami appropriated the remainder of the money to construct a structure on land donated by Black philanthropist D. A. Dorsey. The one-story concrete block and stucco building was named the Dorsey Memorial Library and opened on August 13, 1941 under the supervision of the Miami Public Library’s Head Librarian. This was the first public library building owned by the City of Miami. The City of Miami thus had several community libraries receiving various amounts of financial support from public funds.

In 1942 it was decided to bring all of these libraries together in a single public library system governed by a Board of Trustees and administered by a Head Librarian with administrative headquarters in a new downtown library. A new main library building had been proposed for Bayfront Park in downtown Miami as early as 1938 but the proposal did not become a reality until more than a decade later. Miamians eagerly began using their new library in Bayfront Park on July 2, 1951 even before its formal dedication on July 27 of that year.

The following years brought a number of new neighborhood libraries, and the closing and consolidation of others. In April 1957 the subscription library in Coconut Grove became part of the system while eight new branches were constructed in the next eight years. In December 1965 the City of Miami and Metropolitan Dade County reached an agreement whereby the City of Miami would provide public library service to unincorporated Dade County and to those municipalities that did not provide their own municipal library service. At this time, two existing municipal libraries, Coral Gables and South Miami, entered into the agreement with Metropolitan Dade County and were included in the new public library system. A year later the Miami Springs Library was added to the system. Library service to the unincorporated area was provided by four bookmobiles.

On November 1, 1971 the City of Miami transferred its library system to Metropolitan Dade County which created a new Department of Libraries with a Director reporting directly to the County Manager.

While some municipalities elected to continue providing public library service through their own municipal operations, the City of Homestead’s public library joined the County system on January 1, 1975. The Hispanic Branch (Rama Hispanica), serving a primarily Spanish-speaking clientele, opened August 2, 1976 in Little Havana.

Between 1976 and 1990, the “Decade of Progress” Bond Issue provided the funds to open 14 new libraries (South Dade Regional, West Dade Regional, North Dade Regional, West Kendall Regional, Northeast, Model City, Kendall, South Miami, Homestead, Miami Lakes, Coral Reef, Key Biscayne, North Central and the new Main Library) and renovate other locations. October 1, 1986, the Miami Beach Public Library and its two branches became part of the Miami-Dade Public Library System. On January 15, 1992, the world’s first library on an elevated transit system opened at the busy Civic Center Metrorail station.

August 24, 1992 is a date burned into Dade County’s collective memory. Hurricane Andrew’s howling winds inflicted significant damage to the library system, completely devastating Homestead Branch, South Dade Regional, Coral Reef Branch, and West Kendall Regional libraries. Nearly every library and nearly every employee was directly affected. Thanks to massive efforts and effective leadership, the Library System was rebuilt stronger than ever.

The new century has seen a new era of library growth. The Doral Branch Library was dedicated September 28, 2000. The Country Walk Branch Library was dedicated August 28, 2001, followed by the Hialeah Gardens Branch on February 13, 2002. After an absence of a decade, bookmobile service returned to outlying suburban neighborhoods on April 25, 2002. 2003 saw new branches open in Naranja on May 1st and in Tamiami on May 29th and Lakes of the Meadow in September. 2004 saw library openings in Concord and Palm Springs North. Plans are now underway to open additional libraries in California Club, Elizabeth Virrick Park in Coconut Grove, Sunset Drive and in Palmetto Bay. In 2005, the Library System opened a new Regional Library on Miami Beach, a new branch in Sunny Isles Beach, and moved its South Shore and Fairlawn Branches to newly built facilities.

By the summer of 2007 the era of rapid growth was clearly drawing to a close. The Florida Governor and State Legislature, under public pressure to address the skyrocketing cost of living in the state, agreed to hold a special session to decide on substantial property tax reductions. Since previous efforts to rein in the cost of home insurance had little effect, reductions in the public property tax burden would have to carry the entire weight of addressing the legitimate hardships posed by non-discretionary expenses which have increased well out proportion with inflation. Before the session was even enjoined, informed individuals were well aware that if the more robust tax reform plans were adopted the Library System could very well be dealt a serious, even mortal blow.

Sources inside the Library confirm that branch libraries were already slashing materials budgets by at least thirty percent or more and that only half of funds allocated but not yet spent were allowed to be used. Branches of the library were ordered to take severe economies with existing supplies and only place new supply orders which were absolutely essential. Furthermore the purchase and deployment of additional Express Checkout Machines was suspended in May 2007. All of these measures were enacted before the special session of the Florida Legislature even began. Library leadership made a commitment that staff layoffs would only take place as a last resort but a sense of deep disquiet remained even as those responsible for generating the budgets worked through every possible scenario.

Today the Main Library in downtown Miami and its 39 regional and branch libraries serve a population of 1,939,775. Approximately 650,000 active cardholders borrow more than 5 million items annually, while reference librarians answer some 6 million questions each year, and 1 million internet sessions are provided free of charge."[1]

[edit] Branches

[edit] Future Branches

[edit] External links