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The Pierce County Library System (PCLS) is a
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 ...
system serving the residents of Pierce County, Washington. The Pierce County Library System has 20 library locations serving 580,000 people in
unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...
Pierce County and 15 cities and towns which have annexed to the system for library service. It circulates 6.9 million items annually, hosts seasonal youth story times, teen clubs, events for youth and adults, classes for skills development and technology, an active summer reading program, and connects with social media. In 2016, there were 334,362 library cardholders, PCLS locations had more than 2.2 million visitors, and the website had more than 3.5 million visitors.


History

The Pierce County Library System was formed by a ballot measure passed by voters in unincorporated Pierce County on November 7, 1944. The library began operating on January 2, 1946, and opened seven station branches in its first year. The system served unincorporated areas of the county as well as towns and cities that annex or contract with PCLS. Over its 70+ years, it has had four directors: Marion Cromwell, Carolyn Else, Neel Parikh and Georgia Lomax.


Locations


Current Locations

*Administrative Center & Library (
Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Pa ...
) * Anderson Island * Bonney Lake *
Buckley Buckley may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Buckley's, a Canadian pharmaceutical corporation * Buckley Aircraft, an American aircraft manufacturer * Buckley Broadcasting, an American broadcasting company * Buckley School (California), ...
* DuPont * Eatonville * Fife * Gig Harbor/Peninsula *
Graham Graham and Graeme may refer to: People * Graham (given name), an English-language given name * Graham (surname), an English-language surname * Graeme (surname), an English-language surname * Graham (musician) (born 1979), Burmese singer * Clan ...
*Key Center ( Key Peninsula) * Lakewood * Milton/
Edgewood Edgewood may refer to: Places Canada *Edgewood, British Columbia South Africa *Edgewood, a University of KwaZulu-Natal campus in Pinetown, South Africa United States Cities and towns *Edgewood, California *Edgewood, Florida *Edgewood, Illinois, a ...
*
Orting Orting is a city in Pierce County, Washington, United States. The population was 9,041 at the 2020 census. History The first recorded claims for land in Orting were made in 1854 by William Henry Whitesell, Thomas Headley, Daniel Lane, and D ...
* Parkland/ Spanaway * South Hill * Steilacoom *Summit ( Tacoma) * Sumner *Tillicum ( Lakewood) * University Place The library's headquarters, Administrative Center & Library, is in the Summit-Waller area, southeast of
Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Pa ...
. The busiest locations are Gig Harbor, South Hill, Lakewood, University Place, and Parkland/Spanaway.


Former locations

The library system has added and closed many other library locations over its history. Defunct branches include: American Lake Gardens, Browns Point, Longmire,
McNeil Island McNeil Island is an island in the northwest United States in south Puget Sound, located southwest of Tacoma, Washington. With a land area of , it lies just north of Anderson Island; Fox Island is to the north, across Carr Inlet, and to the ...
, National, and Wilkeson.


Service area

The Pierce County Library System serves all of rural Pierce County and any of the cities that have annexed into its service area. This includes all of the cities listed above, but does not include
Carbonado Carbonado, commonly known as black diamond, is one of the toughest forms of natural diamond. It is an impure, high-density, micro-porous form of polycrystalline diamond consisting of diamond, graphite, and amorphous carbon, with minor crysta ...
, Fircrest, and Ruston.


See also

*
King County Library System The King County Library System (KCLS) is a library system serving the residents of King County, Washington, United States. Headquartered in Issaquah, Washington, KCLS was the busiest library system in the United States as of 2010, circulating 22.4 ...
* Puyallup Public Library * Tacoma Public Library *
Timberland Regional Library Timberland Regional Library (TRL) is a public library system serving the residents of western Washington state, United States including Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, and Thurston counties. Timberland Regional Library has 27 community lib ...
(Southwest Washington)


References


External links

* County library systems in Washington (state) Government agencies established in 1946 Library districts Education in Pierce County, Washington {{PierceCountyWA-geo-stub