The Brigadier General Charles E. McGee Library, formerly the Silver Spring Library, is part of the

Montgomery County Public Libraries The Montgomery County Public Libraries (MCPL) is the public library system for residents of Montgomery County, Maryland. The system includes 21 publicly accessible branches and a public kiosk, as well as a branch in the Montgomery County Correcti ...

System. It opened to the public in 1931 and is currently located at 900 Wayne Avenue in

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 censu ...

. The library is named for Charles E. McGee, a Tuskegee Airman who had lived in Montgomery County.

History

Early locations

Silver Spring Library began service in 1931 at East Silver Spring Elementary School. In 1934, the library moved to Jesup Blair Community House, also known as "The Moorings." Architect Howard Wright Cutler remodeled the building to serve as a library, and his work earned the building a nomination for placement 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 v ...

in 1975. The library operated out of the Jesup Blair House for 23 years. 1957 Silver Spring Library

Colesville Road (1957–2015)

The library opened a building of its own at 8901

Colesville Road U.S. Route 29 (US 29) is a north–south United States highway that runs for from the western suburbs of Baltimore, Maryland, to Pensacola, Florida. In the U.S. state of Maryland, US 29 is a major highway that emerges from Washington, D. ...

in 1957, on land donated by the

Hecht Company Hecht's, also known as Hecht Brothers, Hecht Bros. and the Hecht Company, was a large chain of department stores that operated mainly in the mid-Atlantic and southern region of the United States. The firm originated in Baltimore, Maryland. By 20 ...

. At this location, the library occupied a building dedicated exclusively for the library's use for the first time. Ellsworth Urban Park was created in an area covering beside the library in 1979. The park has two playground areas where parents can take their children to play, and a

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

court. In 1990, Marcia Billig's sculpture ''Lion and the Mouse'' was installed in the grass of the library. A celebration of 58 years of service was held on March 15, 2015, the last day of service at the Colesville Road location.

Current location (2015–present)

The current library location at 900 Wayne Avenue in Silver Spring was opened on June 20, 2015. The facility was built for $64 million, including the acquisition of of land, preparation of the site, design, construction, furniture, equipment and funds to improve the collection. Construction was to cost $23 million, but $3 million was taken to renovate the

Fillmore Fillmore may refer to: Places Canada * Fillmore, Saskatchewan * Rural Municipality of Fillmore No. 96, Saskatchewan United States * Fillmore, California * Fillmore District, San Francisco, California * Fillmore, Louisiana * Fillmore, Illino ...

, a music venue nearby in downtown Silver Spring. The ground floor of the seven-story building has a coffee shop and a platform for the future Purple Line light rail station. In 2022, the library was renamed for

Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

Charles E. McGee, a

Tuskegee Airman The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of primarily African American military pilots (fighter and bomber) and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332d Fighter Group and the 477th Fighter Group, 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of the ...

who had lived in Montgomery County. * 1st and 2nd floors: Drop-off window, cafe, county offices, meeting rooms, and artists studios. * 3rd floor: Customer service, movies, teen books, conference room, meeting rooms, Mac lab (teens), study rooms, pick-up area, drop off area. * 4th floor: Books, audiobooks, CDs, newspapers and magazines room, conference and study rooms, computer rooms. * 5th floor: Children's floor.

Collection

The library has a collection of 90,000 books, magazines, downloadable music,

e-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...

s, and a ''World Language Collection'' in

Amharic Amharic ( or ; (Amharic: ), ', ) is an Ethiopian Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas, and also serves as a lingua franca for all oth ...

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

, Spanish, and Vietnamese, organized in the following way:

Teens collection (third floor)

* Pick up holds section * DVD 7 days express * DVD TV series * Express DVD section * New fiction for children * Books for teens: Fiction, non fiction, graphic novels, manga.

Adults collection (fourth floor)

* Reading books (with magazines and newspapers) * Audiobooks section * Shelves organized by Dewey Decimal classification (000 to 999) * World languages. * Biographies organized by subjects last name. * Fiction, new books large type fiction (by author's last name). * Non fiction (by author's last name). * Graphic novels * Mystery & new mystery * Romance * Librarians choice

Children collection (fifth floor)

* Picture books * New picture books * Beginning readers * DVDs & Vox books (printed and audio books) * Braille books * Series books * Audio books * Fiction books for 2nd to 7th grade. * Children internet computers * Biographies & reference * Library center * World languages * Children internet computers.

Other resources

In 2016, the library also offered: * 47

all-in-one computer An all-in-one computer or all-in-one PC (AIO) is a personal computer that integrates the system's internal components into the same case as the display, thus occupying a smaller footprint (with fewer cables) than desktops that incorporate a tower ...

s with Core i5 processor at 3 GHz, 8 GB RAM, webcam, 1080p/23" screen, an

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

HD Graphics 4600, USB ports, DVD-RW drives, 256 GB

Solid-state drive A solid-state drive (SSD) is a solid-state storage device that uses integrated circuit assemblies to store data persistently, typically using flash memory, and functioning as secondary storage in the hierarchy of computer storage. It is ...

and 30 Mbit/s download/105 Mbit/s upload

Internet access Internet access is the ability of individuals and organizations to connect to the Internet using computer terminals, computers, and other devices; and to access services such as email and the World Wide Web. Internet access is sold by Internet ...

each one. * Six iMac computers * Two

3D printer 3D printing or additive manufacturing is the Manufacturing, construction of a three-dimensional object from a computer-aided design, CAD model or a digital 3D modeling, 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is ...

s * A business center with a scanner, and copier/

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person or a company * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer ( fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * Jame ...

Services

Library card A library card can refer to several cards traditionally used for the management of books and patrons in a library. In its most common use, a library card serves similar functions as a corporate membership card. A person who holds a library card ...

s: Free for Montgomery County and D.C. area residents and students and are valid for 1 year. Money can be added to library cards to be used for printing of documents. * Each user can borrow up 100 books and magazines for 3 weeks, that can be renewed up to 3 times. * Each user can borrow up to 20 movies every week and most of them can be renewed up to 3 times. * Each user can borrow audiobooks and ebooks for up to 3 weeks. * Each user can borrow e-books from 3M dispenser machines with 3M book readers and on-line using Overdrive and 3M applications for PC,

Kindle Kindle may refer to: Companies and products * Amazon Kindle, an e-reader line by Amazon.com ** Kindle Direct Publishing, an e-book publishing platform by Amazon ** Kindle Store, an online e-book e-commerce store by Amazon * Kindle Banking Systems, ...

tablet Tablet may refer to: Medicine * Tablet (pharmacy), a mixture of pharmacological substances pressed into a small cake or bar, colloquially called a "pill" Computing * Tablet computer, a mobile computer that is primarily operated by touching the s ...

s, Nook tablets, and so forth.

s can also be downloaded to a computer, and using

Adobe Digital Editions Adobe Digital Editions (abbreviated ADE) is an e-book reader software program from Adobe Systems, built initially (1.x version) using Adobe Flash. It is used for acquiring, managing, and reading e-books, digital newspapers, and other digital pub ...

software, these books can be uploaded to classic versions of Kindle and Nook. * Hold lockers where users can pick up

24/7 In commerce and industry, 24/7 or 24-7 service (usually pronounced "twenty-four seven") is service that is available at any time and usually, every day. An alternate orthography for the numerical part includes 24×7 (usually pronounced "twenty ...

books that were reserved. * Drop off area available

, where users can return books that were borrowed with. The use of

RFID Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder, a radio receiver and transmitter. When triggered by an electromag ...

technology allow to return books to the system automatically. * Automated borrowing: Spots with

scanners were users can borrow books by themselves. * Mango Languages: Online language learning website for Montgomery County Public Libraries users. * Muzzy Online: An interactive language learning website for children with animations and games, free for Montgomery County Public Libraries users. *

LibX LibX was a free, open-source scholars' extension for the Internet Explorer browser (and formerly for Firefox) that lets people use services offered by their library. Users can search their library catalog(s) and databases through a search bar or ...

toolbar: Allow to search from Montgomery County Public Libraries catalog from a toolbar on your web browser. Available for Firefox and Chrome.

Study rooms

The library has 14 study rooms with space for up to 8 people. Study rooms can be reserved online every week, and can be used once a day for up to 2 hours every day.

Printers and scanners

The library has four multi-function printers that can be used with a library card. Scanning of documents is free and can be stored via

USB flash drive A USB flash drive (also called a thumb drive) is a data storage device that includes flash memory with an integrated USB interface. It is typically removable, rewritable and much smaller than an optical disc. Most weigh less than . Since firs ...

s. Documents can be printed from any computer in the library and have a cost of 15 cents per black-and-white page and $1 per color page.

Hotspot

The library also has a free

hotspot Hotspot, Hot Spot or Hot spot may refer to: Places * Hot Spot, Kentucky, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Hot Spot (comics), a name for the DC Comics character Isaiah Crockett * Hot Spot (Tra ...

with up to 10 MiB/s of throughput for visitors with personal

laptop A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a clam shell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper li ...

s or

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

Online services and mobile applications

Montgomery County Public Libraries works with more than ten providers of online services and companies that offer desktop access but also developed their own applications for

mobile device A mobile device (or handheld computer) is a computer small enough to hold and operate in the hand. Mobile devices typically have a flat LCD or OLED screen, a touchscreen interface, and digital or physical buttons. They may also have a physical ...

s such as

s, cellphones (such as

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

and iPhone), and

that use its services. Among the apps are the following: * BookMine: An application to search on Montgomery County Public Library catalog that also can be used to manage Montgomery County Public Library card accounts. Available for

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

and

. * 3M Cloud Library: Application to download

s on

EPUB EPUB is an e-book file format that uses the ".epub" file extension. The term is short for ''electronic publication'' and is sometimes styled ''ePub''. EPUB is supported by many e-readers, and compatible software is available for most smartphones ...

format. Available for iOS, Android and Android for Kindle. *

OverDrive Media Console OverDrive Media Console is a proprietary, freeware application developed by OverDrive, Inc. for use with its digital distribution services for libraries, schools, and retailers. The application enables users to access audiobooks, eBooks, periodic ...

: Application to download e-books using Montgomery County Public Library accounts. Available for iOS, Android, Android for Kindle, Blackberry. and Windows phone. * Freegal Music: Application to download 5 free songs every week. Available for iOS, Android and Android for Kindle (via SlideMe). * Zinio: Free collection of more than 5,000 full color digital magazines. Available for iOS, Android and Android for Kindle. * Flipster: Application to read free digital magazine provided from your library. * OnceClickDigital: Application where can be downloaded audiobooks and e-books with MCPL library cards. Available for iOS, Android, Android for kindle. * Mango Languages: An

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" or ...

language learning Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language (in other words, gain the ability to be aware of language and to understand it), as well as to produce and use words and sentences to ...

resource free for library users where can be learn more than 70 languages. Available for iOS, Android and Android for Kindle. * Reference USA for iPad: Search tool for business and residential information, used also for job searching. * Access My Library: Tool that helps to look for libraries by market and distance, and also allow to search items on library catalogs, read biographies, articles, journals, etc. Available for iOS and Android. * EBSCOhost: Tool that helps to search on libraries databases organizing them by date or relevance. Available for iOS and Android. * LibriVox: Application where anyone can download audiobooks. Available for Android and iOS. *

Kanopy Kanopy is an on-demand streaming video platform for public and academic libraries that offers films, TV shows and documentaries. The service is free for users, but content owners and content creators are paid on a pay-per-view model by the in ...

: It is an on-demand streaming video platform for public libraries and universities that offers films and documentaries. All the users have access to the Kanopy kids subdivision.

Courtesy charging stations

Three courtesy charging stations are available, with connectors, where visitors can charge cellphones and tablets.

Accessibility

The library follows

Accessibility Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...

regulations: * Wheelchair ramps at both entrances. * Four ADA computers that follow the

Americans with Disabilities Act The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ...

for persons with visual impairment or

physical disabilities A physical disability is a limitation on a person's physical functioning, mobility, dexterity or stamina. Other physical disability, disabilities include impairments which limit other facets of daily living skills, daily living, such as respiratory ...

. * Two wide elevators: **Fenton St. elevator (located beside Kefa

Cafe A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-caf ...

) has access from 1st floor to 3rd, 4th and 5th floors and from 4th and 5th floor to 3rd floor **Wayne Ave. elevator from 1st to 3rd (main) floor and from 3rd floor to 1st floor. * 7

restrooms A public toilet, restroom, public bathroom or washroom is a room or small building with toilets (or urinals) and sinks for use by the general public. The facilities are available to customers, travelers, employees of a business, school pupils ...

, each with baby changing stations. *

Air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...

to cool the library in summer,

heat pump A heat pump is a device that can heat a building (or part of a building) by transferring thermal energy from the outside using a refrigeration cycle. Many heat pumps can also operate in the opposite direction, cooling the building by removing h ...

s to warm it in winter, and ventilation on every floor.

References

{{authority control 1931 establishments in Maryland Buildings and structures in Silver Spring, Maryland Downtown Silver Spring, Maryland Education in Montgomery County, Maryland Library buildings completed in 2015 Libraries established in 1931 Public libraries in Maryland