Multnomah County Library is the

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 serving

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

and

Multnomah County, Oregon Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland–Vancouver– Hillsboro, OR–WA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Thou ...

, 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, serving a population of 724,680, with more than 425,000 registered borrowers.Oregon Public Library Statistics
Oregon State Library. 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 was one of the early founders, with financial support coming from those such as

Henry Corbett Henry Winslow Corbett (February 18, 1827March 31, 1903) was an American businessman, politician, civic benefactor, and philanthropist in the state of Oregon. A native of Massachusetts, he spent his early life in the East and New York (state), ...

William S. Ladd William Sargent Ladd (October 10, 1826 – January 6, 1893) was an American politician and businessman in Oregon. He twice served as Portland, Oregon's mayor in the 1850s. A native of Vermont, he was a prominent figure in the early developme ...

, and

Erasmus D. Shattuck Erasmus Darwin Shattuck (December 31, 1824 – July 26, 1900) was an American politician and judge in the state of Oregon. He served as the 7th Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court serving from 1866 to 1867. He served two separate terms on th ...

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 Harvey Whitefield Scott (1838–1910) was an American pioneer who traveled to Oregon in 1852. Scott was a long-time editorialist, and eventual part owner of ''The Oregonian'' newspaper. Scott was regarded by his contemporaries as instrumental i ...

served as the first librarian, part-time, at its first location on Stark Street 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 library He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

until 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, 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 The Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), colloquially known as the Dewey Decimal System, is a proprietary library classification system which allows new books to be added to a library in their appropriate location based on subject. Section 4.1 ...

. 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 serve ...

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 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 John Wilson may refer to: Academics * John Wilson (mathematician) (1741–1793), English mathematician and judge * John Wilson (historian) (1799–1870), author of ''Our Israelitish Origin'' (1840), a founding text of British Israelism * John Wil ...

; 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

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'', September 24, 2006. The three-story Central Library was listed on the National Register of Historic Places 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, East 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.

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