The Broward County Library is a

public library A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants. There are ...

system in

Broward County Broward County ( , ) is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's second-most populous county after Miami-Dade County and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with over 1.94 m ...

, Florida, in the United States. The system contains 38 branch locations and circulates over 10.5 million items annually. The system includes the Main Library in

Fort Lauderdale A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

, five regional libraries, and various branches.

History

From 1963 to 1972, activists established a library subcommittee to improve library service in Broward County. The report generated by the committee received wide media attention and was supported by County Commissioner Robert Hubener. On January 9, 1973, the Broward County Commission approved the establishment of a library system. The system began issuing borrower cards on June 17, 1974, for 270,000 items. There were four branches:

, Riverland, Mizell, and Hollywood. Over the following three decades, many of the municipalities in

elected to join the library system. These included

Coral Springs Coral Springs, officially the City of Coral Springs, is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. The city is located approximately northwest of Fort Lauderdale. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 134,394. It is a ...

Lauderhill Lauderhill, officially the City of Lauderhill, is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census,the city's population was 74,482. It is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,0 ...

, Hallandale, Dania Beach,

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and Westbrook, Kent, ...

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects. Terminology Al ...

Deerfield Beach Deerfield Beach is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States, just south of the Palm Beach County line. The city is named for the numerous deer that once roamed the area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 86,859. It is a principal ...

, North Lauderdale, and

Pompano Beach Pompano Beach ( ) is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. It is located along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, just north of Fort Lauderdale. The nearby Hillsboro Inlet forms part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. As of the 2020 ...

. Starting in 1978, library director Cecil Beach oversaw the planning and construction of the system's flagship branch, the Main Library. In 1980, the construction of the Main Library was funded. The cost of the Main Library went up from $20.5 to $42 million, in part because of inflation. Library-system director Cecil Beach was involved in all phases of the Main Library project, from planning to completion. In 1984, the Main Library opened. In 1983, the South Regional Library located on the South Campus of Broward Community College became the first joint-use public-college library in the State of Florida. The library system was named "Library of the Year" in 1996 by

Library Journal ''Library Journal'' is an American trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey. It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional prac ...

and Gale Research. Ongoing construction, including that funded by a 1999 bond issue, has resulted in the current total of 38 branch libraries in addition to the eight-story Main Library in downtown Fort Lauderdale. The Main Library also houses the Florida Center for the Book, the

Bienes Museum of the Modern Book The Bienes Museum of the Modern Book, previously known as the Bienes Center for the Literary Arts, is the rare book department located on the 6th floor of Broward County, Florida, Broward County's Main Library in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United ...

, and a public fine-arts exhibition center. Kelvin Watson was appointed as library-system director in 2017. Upon his resignation Allison Grubbs was named Director in 2021. Allison Grubbs Named New Director of Broward County Library
Broward Public Library Foundation, July 26, 2021.

African-American Research Library and Cultural Center

On October 26, 2002, the Broward County Library opened the African-American Research Library and Cultural Center, located at 2650 Sistrunk Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The 60,000 square-foot facility has a 300-seat auditorium, a 5,000-square-foot art gallery, and Small Business Resource Center. Since its opening, the Center has hosted more than 38 major exhibits and served more than 895,000 customers.

Broward County Historical Archives

The Broward County Historical Archives has been a part of the Broward County Library since 2011 and contains over 800 archival collections and more than 120,000 cataloged items. Research appointments are held in the

Reading Room on the 6th floor of the Main Library, and the Archive's mission is to preserve materials and objects that document the history of Broward County, Florida, and to make these records available to the public. The archives include: * Personal papers, manuscripts, and photographs from local families and individuals. * Broward County government records and papers dating back to 1915. * Local organizations' records, such as clubs, churches, and businesses. These include employee payroll records for the Florida East Coast Railway, dating from 1918 to 1950. * Extensive quantity of newspaper photographs from the ''Hollywood Sun-Tattler'' and ''Boca News'' from the 1970s and 1980s. * Over 300 original oral history interviews from several oral history collections. * A variety of objects and artifacts illustrate the uniqueness and diversity of Broward County’s history. * Archeological material gathered from scientific excavations. * Historical Library of rare books about local history and historical serials.

References

External links

* {{authority control County library systems in Florida

Library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

Public libraries in Florida 1974 establishments in Florida