Multnomah County Library is the public library system serving Portland and Multnomah County, Oregon, United States. A continuation of the Library Association of Portland, established in 1864, the system now has 19 branches offering books, magazines, DVDs, and computers. It is the largest library system in

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

, serving a population of 724,680, with more than 425,000 registered borrowers.Oregon Public Library Statistics

Oregon State Library The State Library of Oregon in Salem, is the library for the U.S. state of Oregon. The mission of the State Library of Oregon is to provide leadership and resources to continue growing vibrant library services for Oregonians with print disabil ...

. Retrieved on February 9, 2011. According to the Public Library Association, it ranks second among U.S. libraries, based on circulation of books and materials, and ranks first among libraries serving fewer than one million residents. In this respect, it is the busiest in the nation.Press release from Queens Library, August 2008.
Retrieved on July 2, 2009. Original data from Public Library Data Service Statistical Report 2008. Chicago: PLA, 2008.

History

After Leland H. Wakefield began collecting funds door-to-door in 1863, the Mercantile Library Association was started on January 12, 1864, with subscriptions by Portland's merchant elite.Corning, Howard M. (1989) ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. Binfords & Mort Publishing. p. 147-8. Judge

Matthew Deady Matthew Paul Deady (May 12, 1824 – March 24, 1893) was a politician and jurist in the Oregon Territory and the state of Oregon of the United States. He served on the Oregon Supreme Court from 1853 to 1859, at which time he was appointed to the ...

was one of the early founders, with financial support coming from those such as Henry Corbett, William S. Ladd, and Erasmus D. Shattuck among others. The more inclusive Library Association of Portland name was chosen, likely on Judge Deady's suggestion. William Ladd was the elected its first president. The founders proclaimed "the library should forever be kept free of politics." By March 1864, there were 153 members, who had subscribed $2,500. Harvey W. Scott served as the first librarian, part-time, at its first location on

Stark Street Stark Street is an east-west-running street in Portland, Oregon, in the United States. The street is named after Benjamin Stark, and Southeast Stark Street and Southwest Stark Street are divided by the Willamette River. In late 2017, activists pr ...

in Portland. In 1869, the library moved to the Ladd & Tilton Bank Building where it received free rent. Deady was the president from 1874 until 1893, and found that fundraising was "like pulling teeth", calling the local establishment "closefisted narrow visioned millionaires" in 1888, also stating "The rich men of Portland will never do much for he libraryuntil they die, and maybe not then." The first major bequest came from Stephen Skidmore in 1883. In 1891, a new separate library, the

Portland Public Library Portland Public Library is the main library of the public library system in Portland, Maine, USA. It is located at 5 Monument Square on Congress Street in the Old Port of Portland, Maine. The library has three neighborhood branches, Burban ...

, was founded by a group that included some former LAP board members. The two libraries merged in 1902. Portland library building, constructed in 1893 edit

Portland library building, constructed in 1893 edit

The library moved to a new two-story stone library building in 1893. The building cost $156,477, representing 27 years of fundraising, mostly by Deady. A large portion of the funds came from Ella M. Smith, daughter of Benjamin F. Smith, in 1889. The library was staffed by D. F. W. Bursch, the library's first trained librarian, who oversaw the implementation of the Dewey Decimal system. It contained 20,000 volumes. Prior to opening the library for free public access, the board tried to lower subscription costs as often as possible to allow a larger percentage of the general public to have access to the resource. The board debated whether to accept government support, with Deady arguing against, out of concern for the encroachment of political influence, and on the principle that citizens would place more value on something they themselves paid for, even if the payment were small. In 1897, board president

George Henry Williams George Henry Williams (March 26, 1823April 4, 1910) was an American judge and politician. He served as chief justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, was the 32nd Attorney General of the United States, and was elected Oregon's U.S. senator, and serv ...

proposed that the librarian be empowered to remove materials deemed to demoralize people and disorganize society," an approach in keeping with common library practice at the time. Gresham Carnegie Library - Gresham Oregon

Gresham Carnegie Library - Gresham Oregon

The library declined an offer of a $100,000 donation from

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...

in 1901, expressing "great pride" in Portland's ability to take care of itself; later, it did accept $105,000 in 1911 and $60,000 in 1912 to build branch locations. The library received nearly 9,000 books in 1900 from the estate of John Wilson; many of these were rare books. However, the bequest called for the books to be available free of charge to the public, thus the board voted to provide library services to the public under government contract. In 1901, the state passed a law to allow governments to tax citizens to pay for libraries; the legislation had been advanced primarily by the newly organized State Federation of Women's Clubs. The city of Portland and the library entered into a contract where the privately owned library continued to own its collection, but the city paid for services, thus creating a free publicly supported library. In January 1901, the library allowed books to circulate for the first time. On March 16, 1902, Portland's library became the first free library in the state paid for by taxes.Gunselman, Cheryl. Pioneering Free Library Service for the City, 1864-1902: The Library Association of Portland and the Portland Public Library. ''Oregon Historical Quarterly'', September 22, 2002. Pg. 320 Vol. 103 No. 3 ISSN 0030-4727 At that time it featured more than 38,000 volumes and 215 periodicals. In 1913, the Library Association of Portland (LAP) built the Central Library in downtown Portland at Tenth Street. They did not use any Carnegie funds for the project, instead financing came from a special two-year tax. On July 1, 1990, the LAP officially transferred ownership of the library buildings and collections to Multnomah County.About the library: History.
Multnomah County Library. Retrieved on March 13, 2008.

Branches

The Multnomah County Library operates the Central Library in downtown Portland and 18 branches.

Central Library

The Central Library in downtown Portland serves as the main branch of the system. The building was designed by architect

A. E. Doyle Albert Ernest Doyle (July 27, 1877 – January 23, 1928) was a prolific architect in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington. He is most often credited for his works as A.E. Doyle. He opened his own architectural practice in 1907. From ...

, and opened on September 6, 1913. It was one of the first libraries in the United States to feature an open-plan.Gragg, Randy. Recycling the Armory. ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 18 ...

'', September 24, 2006. The three-story Central Library was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

as the Central Building, Public Library in 1979. It contains of bookshelf space and has more than 130 computers for the public. The branch contains of space. From 1994 to 1997, the interior of the Central Library was partially gutted and extensively renovated.

Other branches

Midland is the largest of the branch locations with a total of followed by the Gresham location with . The Albina, St. Johns and North Portland branches are Carnegie libraries. (There were also four Carnegie libraries no longer part of the system:

Arleta Arleta () is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California, with a high percentage of Latino residents and of people born outside the United States. Geography Arleta is bordered by the Los Angeles distr ...

East Portland East Portland was a city in the U.S. state of Oregon that was consolidated into Portland in 1891. In modern usage, the term generally refers to the portion of present-day Portland that lies east of 82nd Avenue, most of which the City of Portland ...

, the old Gresham Library, and South Portland).

Details

As of FY2010, the system has a total of 486 FTE employees, including 91 librarian FTE. Total annual revenue was just over $62.8 million, with expenditures of $60.5 million. There are more than 425,000 library card holders in the system that serves a population of over 700,000 people, the largest in the state. Multnomah County Library has a total of 1,994,541 books, DVDs, CDs, periodicals, and other library materials. There was a total of 5,799,497 visits in FY2010 with the total circulation of 22,715,292. The library system contains a total of about 700 computer search stations for the public and a combined total of of space at all 19 libraries. The library is also a depository for the

Federal Depository Library Program The Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) is a government program created to make U.S. federal government publications available to the public at no cost. As of April 2021, there are 1,114 depository libraries in the United States and its ter ...

References

External links

Friends of the Multnomah County LibraryThe Library Foundation1892 & 1893 Annual Report
{{Authority control 1864 establishments in Oregon Buildings and structures in Multnomah County, Oregon Carnegie libraries in Oregon County library systems in Oregon Federal depository libraries Libraries established in 1864