The Palm Beach County Library System is the public library system of

Palm Beach County Palm Beach County is a county located in the southeastern part of Florida and lies directly north of Broward County and Miami-Dade County. The county had a population of 1,492,191 as of the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous county ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. Its headquarters, the Main Library, is located in an

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

near

West Palm Beach West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

. The system was established in 1967 and serves Palm Beach County through the Main Library and 17 branch libraries. Its first library branch opened in Tequesta on September 25, 1969 and its first bookmobile five days later. Unlike neighboring Broward and

Miami-Dade Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in ...

counties, where most municipalities have joined their county's library system, most municipalities in Palm Beach County continue to operate their own city libraries, leading the county system to focus on the more suburban communities. Instead, a cooperative system model is in place to allow interoperation between county and municipal libraries.

Services

The Palm Beach County Library System provides a number of services to area patrons. The Adult Literacy Project provides those learning English as a second language with free, informal conversation sessions. Project members encourage community participation in the program, including educational materials, sponsors, tutors, student workshops and cultural events. The Palm Beach County Library System provides on- and off-site story time service to local child centers, as well as workshops to assist teachers in storytelling techniques. The libraries within the Palm Beach County Library System also offer a social gathering venue and educational and craft programs for children and teens of various ages. These programs provide opportunities for individuals to discover new interests in a safe environment. These activities cover a large array of subjects such as

Dungeons and Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TS ...

, Teen Trivia,

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classes and discussion groups, Teen Gaming,

Poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

, and Harry Potter classes. The education-based programs are also meant to offer new skills, tutoring opportunities and teach safety skills. They also offer many online and technology-related classes for all ages. All the classes are focused towards specific age groups. Adults are also offered an array of programs for socializing, education, and entertaining. These classes focus on subjects such as practice of the English language, stress,

Meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm ...

Yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consci ...

, crocheting, poetry, music and movie viewing. Some of these classes are focused on professional tasks such as taxes, résumé updates, new computer skills, online learning, and Medicare. The Palm Beach County Library System offers an Ask-a-Librarian service, where individuals are able to receive live reference service without entering a library building. Each class is designed to meet the needs of local citizens within their area. Palm Beach County is large, and there are many libraries with different local demographics, so each one chooses the necessary programs to meet their patrons' needs. The library also offers Books-By-Mail, a Deaf Resource Center, and Talking Books services to those in special populations. Book Club in a Bag is another service offered which facilitates the selection of titles (English and Spanish) for local book club meetings. Multiple copies of the title and discussion notes are included, making it simple to start and maintain a book club. The Palm Beach County Library System also will help suggest reading materials. Through their "What to read next" page, a patron can access a variety of different websites and blogs, such as Novelist Plus
Library Reads
LibraryThing, and

Goodreads Goodreads is an American social cataloging website and a subsidiary of Amazon that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and read ...

, which will supply them with the information needed to find their new book. The library system also offers a Speakers Bureau, where library staff will visit civic organizations, homeowners associations and volunteer groups to give presentations on the services and opportunities available at the library. Each library offers many different forms of media such as books, comics,

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CDs The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...

, magazines, newspapers, digital eBooks,

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...

s and many other options. Physical media items can be requested from neighboring libraries and then delivered at a later date for pick up. Electronic and digital items can be located and downloaded from associated programs such a
CloudLibrary
and hoopla. These library items have the ability to be downloaded onto the patron's personal electronic devices for a preset amount of time. When their download has expired it will delete from their device. The Palm Beach County Library System provides a number of special services, of which include: Government Research Service, Genealogy Research Service, Consumer Health Information Service and CreationStations. Government Research Services entails research, information, and document delivery services to government clients, staff, and elected officials in Palm Beach County. The GRS Collection includes legal documents, government serials, professional journals, and local and state collections. The Genealogy Research Service provides access to a wealth of family history sources including biographical books, genealogy Internet links, genealogy programs, how-to book listings, local city directories, local historical sites, newspapers, and journals. The Consumer Health Information Service offers quality health and medical information for free to residents of Palm Beach County. CreationStations are a digital media lab and recording studio where you can create multi-media content with Apple computers, video cameras, digital software, a photo scanner, sound recording and editing equipment, and a green screen. Special service items, including birding backpacks, mobile wifi-hotspots, civics & citizenship kits, and electronic document magnifiers are also provided at participating branches.

No More Late Fees

On October 1, 2019 the Palm Beach County Library System stopped charging late fees. Instead of a late fee that adds a dime onto your account the library instead will offer a one week grace period after the due date before charging the full amount of the library material. If the fine totals more than $25 then the account will automatically be blocked however if the material is brought in the fee is removed. The Palm Beach County Library System is one of many library systems in the United States to remove fines after several studies showed that fines have actually discouraged people to return to the library which often disproportionally affects low income families.

Branches

The library system has seventeen branches located throughout Palm Beach County: * Main Library in

* Acreage Branch in Loxahatchee * Belle Glade Branch in Belle Glade * Canyon Branch in Boynton Beach, set to open in 2024 * Clarence E. Anthony Branch in South Bay * Gardens Branch (formerly North County Regional) in

Palm Beach Gardens Palm Beach Gardens is a city in Palm Beach County in the U.S. state of Florida, 77 miles north of downtown Miami. , the population was 59,182. Palm Beach Gardens is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6 ...

* Glades Road Branch (formerly South County Regional) in Boca Raton * Greenacres Branch in Greenacres * Hagen Ranch Road Branch in

Delray Beach Delray Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population of Delray Beach as of April 1, 2020 was 66,846 according to the 2020 United States Census. Located 52 miles (83 kilometers) north of Miami, Delray Beach is in the ...

* Jupiter Branch in

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandth t ...

* Lantana Road Branch in

Lantana ''Lantana'' () is a genus of about 150 species of perennial flowering plants in the verbena family, Verbenaceae. They are native to tropical regions of the Americas and Africa but exist as an introduced species in numerous areas, especially in ...

* Loula V. York Branch in Pahokee * Okeechobee Boulevard Branch in

* Royal Palm Beach Branch in

Royal Palm Beach Royal Palm Beach is a village in southeast Florida, located within Palm Beach County. The population was measured at 34,140 in the 2010 census. It is part of the Miami Metropolitan Area. Despite its name, the village is located approximately fift ...

* Tequesta Branch in

Tequesta The Tequesta (also Tekesta, Tegesta, Chequesta, Vizcaynos) were a Native American tribe. At the time of first European contact they occupied an area along the southeastern Atlantic coast of Florida. They had infrequent contact with Europeans a ...

* Wellington Branch in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

* West Boca Branch in Boca Raton * West Boynton Branch in Boynton Beach The Palm Beach County Bookmobile offers a selection of over 3,000 books. Including fiction and nonfiction in regular and large-print. Bookmobile staff help patrons with finding books and research questions. The Bookmobile stops at various Palm Beach County locations each week.

Funding

The Palm Beach County Library System takes a large percentage of its funding, roughly 85.2% as of 2016, from ''

ad valorem An ''ad valorem'' tax (Latin for "according to value") is a tax whose amount is based on the value of a transaction or of property. It is typically imposed at the time of a transaction, as in the case of a sales tax or value-added tax (VAT). An ...

'' property taxes collected by the county. This renders it less dependent upon outside grants (2.3% of funding as of 2016). It also receives support from a Friends of the Library organization, founded by Ingrid A. Eckler. An annual scholarship named after Eckler assists county library staff pursuing education in Library and Information Science. The Palm Beach County Library Association is a professional organization that advocates for and supports libraries, librarians, and their advancement. It hosts a variety of events and fundraisers and supports the professional development of librarians and library science students with Professional Development Awards. Membership is not exclusive; it is open to students, librarians at all levels and areas, and supporters of libraries.

References

{{authority control County library systems in Florida Education in Palm Beach County, Florida West Palm Beach, Florida 1967 establishments in Florida