Indianapolis Public Library
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The Indianapolis Public Library (IndyPL), formerly known as the Indianapolis–Marion County Public 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 the citizens of
Marion County, Indiana Marion County is located in the U.S. state of Indiana. The 2020 United States census, 2020 United States census reported a population of 977,203, making it the largest county in the state and 51st List of the most populous counties in the United ...
, United States and its largest city,
Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...
. The library was founded in 1873 and has grown to include a Central Library building, located adjacent to the Indiana World War Memorial Plaza, and 24 branch libraries spread throughout the county.


History

The Indianapolis Public Library system attributes its beginnings to a Thanksgiving Day, 1868, sermon by Hanford A. Edson, pastor of the Memorial Presbyterian Church (which would later become Second Presbyterian Church), who issued a plea for a free public library in Indianapolis. As a result, 113 residents formed the Indianapolis Library Association on March 18, 1869. In 1870, under the leadership of the superintendent of public schools,
Abram C. Shortridge Abraham Crum Shortridge (October 22, 1833 – October 8, 1919) was an American educator who was superintendent of the Indianapolis Public Schools and the second president of Purdue University. Early life Shortridge was born in Indiana in Henr ...
, citizens drafted a revision of Indiana school law to provide public libraries controlled by a board of school commissioners. The bill passed the Indiana General Assembly, allowing school boards to levy taxes for the purpose of establishing and maintaining public libraries. In 1872, the public library committee of the school board hired
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
librarian
William Frederick Poole William Frederick Poole (24 December 1821, Salem, Massachusetts – 1 March 1894) was an American bibliographer and librarian. Biography He graduated from Yale University in 1849, where he assisted John Edmands, who was a student at the Brothe ...
to begin a collection for the new library and appointed Charles Evans as the first librarian. Indianapolis' first public library opened in one room of the Indianapolis High School building at the northeast corner of Pennsylvania and Michigan streets on April 8, 1873. Upon opening, the library's collection numbered 13,000 volumes and registered 500 borrowers. By the end of its first full year of operation, some 3,000 patrons borrowed more than 100,000 books. Later, as the need for more space grew, the library moved to the Sentinel Building on Monument Circle (1876–1880) and the Alvord House at Pennsylvania and Ohio streets (1880–1893). Evans served as librarian until 1878, and again from 1889 to 1892. Evans' successors were Albert B. Yohn (1878–1879), Arthur W. Tyler (1879–1883), and William deM. Hooper (1883–1889). Eliza G. Browning succeeded Evans in his second tenure, holding the position from 1892 to 1917. During her leadership, the library moved to the first building constructed solely for its purpose, located on the southwest corner of Ohio and
Meridian Meridian or a meridian line (from Latin ''meridies'' via Old French ''meridiane'', meaning “midday”) may refer to Science * Meridian (astronomy), imaginary circle in a plane perpendicular to the planes of the celestial equator and horizon * ...
streets in 1893, and opened its first library branch opened in 1906 on Clifton Street in the
Riverside Riverside may refer to: Places Australia * Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania Canada * Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon * Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta * Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural m ...
neighborhood. Between 1910 and 1914, another five library branches were built with $120,000 donated by
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 ...
. As of 2020, two of these libraries— East Washington and Spades Park—are still active branches. Prior to her resignation, Browning initiated work on a new Central Library located partially on land donated by Hoosier poet
James Whitcomb Riley James Whitcomb Riley (October 7, 1849 – July 22, 1916) was an American writer, poet, and best-selling author. During his lifetime he was known as the "Hoosier Poet" and "Children's Poet" for his dialect works and his children's poetry. His ...
in 1911. Charles E. Rush succeeded Browning, serving as librarian from 1917 until 1927. His successors were Luther L. Dickerson (1927–1944) and Marian McFadden (1944–1955). During this period, eight new branch libraries were opened, and the system's collections expanded to include films, newspapers on microfilm, and phonorecords. Additionally,
bookmobile A bookmobile or mobile library is a vehicle designed for use as a library. They have been known by many names throughout history, including traveling library, library wagon, book wagon, book truck, library-on-wheels, and book auto service. Bookm ...
service began in 1952. Harold J. Sander, who served as director from 1956 to 1971, presided over the opening of ten new branch libraries and undertook a reorganization of the Central Library in 1960 that departmentalized services. Prior to 1966, the library system served only those areas of the city under the jurisdiction of Indianapolis Public Schools, leaving more than 200,000 Marion County residents without access to free public library services. From 1966 to 1968, the newly formed Marion County Public Library Board contracted with the Indianapolis Public Library for service to county residents. In 1968, the Indianapolis Board of School Commissioners relinquished responsibility for library service, allowing the city and county library systems to merge. This established the Indianapolis–Marion County Public Library as a municipal corporation serving all Marion County residents, with the exception of
Beech Grove Beech Grove is a city in Marion County, Indiana, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city's population is 14,192. The city is located within the Indianapolis metropolitan area. Beech Grove is designated an "excluded city" under Indiana la ...
and
Speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta *Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a motor raceway in Speedway, Indiana Types of races and race cours ...
. Raymond E. Gnat succeeded Sander as library director in 1972. Essential library services were computerized between 1982 and 1991. By the early-1990s, the public library system encompassed 21 branches and three bookmobiles. In 1991, some seven million items were circulated among 470,000 registered borrowers and 3.4 million inquiries were answered. At this time, the library collection contained nearly 1.7 million materials staffed by 410 full-time employees. Ed Szynaka served as director from 1994 until 2003, presiding over capital improvements to eight branch libraries, including the relocation of the Broad Ripple Branch to the Glendale Town Center. The Glendale Branch opened in 2000 as the first full-service library at a major shopping center in the U.S. Laura Johnston served in an interim role from 2003 to 2004 until the appointment of Linda Mielke, who served from 2004 until 2007. She was succeeded by Laura Bramble. Following the
Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...
and a successful state ballot measure to cap property taxes in 2008, the Indianapolis Public Library faced a budget shortfall of $4 million in 2010. After considering closing six branches, officials decided to reduce branch hours by 26 percent, layoff 37 employees, and increase fines. Jackie Nytes served as the chief executive officer from 2012 until 2021, when she stepped down from her position. During Nytes' leadership in 2014, the library board received approval from the Indianapolis City-County Council to issue $58.5 million in bonds to renovate and relocate existing branches and construct new ones during the following decade. In April 2016, the boards of the Indianapolis and the Beech Grove public libraries voted to merge, with the Beech Grove library becoming the 23rd branch library of the Indianapolis system on June 1, 2016. John Helling was named interim chief executive officer at the August 23, 2021, board meeting until a search for a new CEO is completed. In 2021, the Indianapolis Public Library terminated its late fee policy, waiving fines for more than 87,000 accounts for overdue items.


Services


Website and digital holdings

The library website provides access to the library's catalog, online collections, digital archives, and subscription databases. The Bibliocommons catalog allows users to search the library's holdings of books, journals, and other materials. It also enables cardholders to request books from any branch and have them delivered to any branch for pickup. IndyPL gives cardholders free access from home to thousands of current and historical magazines, newspapers, journals and reference books in subscription databases, including
EBSCOhost EBSCO Information Services, headquartered in Ipswich, Massachusetts, is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., a private company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. EBSCO provides products and services to libraries of very many types around the ...
, which contains full text of major magazines, the ''Indianapolis Star'' (1903–present), and the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' (1851–present). The Indianapolis Public Library Digital Archives (Digital Indy) is a freely accessible database of over 200,000 digital images and recordings of cultural and historical interest. The collections in this archive highlight Indianapolis schools, arts organizations, neighborhoods, governmental institutions, and other groups. The library offers the ''Encyclopedia of Indianapolis,'' a free-access, web-based encyclopedia providing comprehensive social, cultural, economic, historical, political, and physical descriptions of Indianapolis. The updated ''Encyclopedia of Indianapolis'' was created in partnership with The Polis Center of
Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, commonly referred to as IUPUI, is a public research university in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is a collaboration between Indiana University and Purdue University that offers undergraduate, grad ...
and several other major historical and cultural institutions and builds on the information featured in the original print encyclopedia published by The Polis Center in 1994.


Shared System

The public library offers library services to Indianapolis schools and museums through its Shared System services. The system allows members and students to use their IndyPL library cards to borrow materials from their own library as well as IndyPL's collection through the library's catalog. Local museums and special libraries sharing the catalog include the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, the Indiana Medical History Museum, the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, the BJE Maurer Jewish Community Library, and Riley Children's Hospital.


Central Library

The Central Library building was designed by
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
-based architect Paul Philippe Cret (with Zantzinger, Borie and Medary). ''Note:'' This includes and accompanying photographs. The original Central Library building was constructed in
Greek Doric The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of colu ...
style architecture, faced with Indiana limestone on a Vermont marble base. Central Library opened to the public on October 8, 1917. Central Library contains a number of distinguished architectural design elements. The main reading room by inside the main entrance has two flights of Maryland marble stairs, two diameter bronze light fixtures, and an ornamental ceiling designed by C. C. Zantzinger. The ceiling includes oil-on-canvas medallions and printers' colophons accompanied by a series of
bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
plaster plaques depicting early-Indiana history. Reading rooms at the top of each staircase have wood paneling above oak bookcases and large leaded glass windows. Central Library was added to 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 ...
on August 28, 1975. Central Library has undergone a number of expansions and renovations over the years. A annex to the Central Library was completed in 1975 and restoration of historically significant architecture was completed in the 1980s. In 2001, Indianapolis-based architectural firm Woollen, Molzan and Partners was commissioned to renovate the historic building, expand with a six-story addition, and incorporate an underground parking garage. The new curved-glass and steel facility and atrium would connect to the Cret-designed building, replacing the annex built in the 1970s. The $104 million project doubled the size of the library but proved controversial due to a number of design and construction flaws. The renovated Central Library and its new atrium addition opened on December 9, 2007, two years behind schedule and over budget.


Indianapolis Special Collections Room

The Central Library houses the Indianapolis Special Collections Room, named for newspaper executive
Nina Mason Pulliam Nina Mason Pulliam (September 19, 1906 – March 26, 1997) was an American journalist, author, and newspaper executive in Arizona and Indiana, where she was also well known as a philanthropist and civic leader. Pulliam began her career as a journ ...
. The collection contains a variety of archival adult and children's materials, both fiction and nonfiction books by local authors, photographs, scrapbooks, typescripts, manuscripts, autographed editions, letters, newspapers, magazines, and realia. The collection features Kurt Vonnegut,
May Wright Sewall May Wright Sewall (May 27, 1844 – July 22, 1920) was an American reformer, who was known for her service to the causes of education, women's rights, and world peace. She was born in Greenfield, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. Sewall served as cha ...
, the Woollen family,
James Whitcomb Riley James Whitcomb Riley (October 7, 1849 – July 22, 1916) was an American writer, poet, and best-selling author. During his lifetime he was known as the "Hoosier Poet" and "Children's Poet" for his dialect works and his children's poetry. His ...
, and
Booth Tarkington Newton Booth Tarkington (July 29, 1869 – May 19, 1946) was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his novels ''The Magnificent Ambersons'' (1918) and '' Alice Adams'' (1921). He is one of only four novelists to win the Pulitze ...
.


Other special collections

The Center for Black Literature & Culture opened in 2017, provided by $1.3 million in grant funding from the Lilly Endowment. The center houses some 10,000 books, magazines, DVDs, and e-books with plans to q­ruple the collection to 40,000 items over the next five years. The center's window banners pay tribute to local Black figures, including former
Indiana Fever The Indiana Fever are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded before the 2000 season began. The team is owned ...
basketball player,
Tamika Catchings Tamika Devonne Catchings (born July 21, 1979) is an American retired professional basketball player who played her entire 15-year career for the Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Catchings has won a WNBA champio ...
, poet and playwright,
Mari Evans Mari Evans (July 16, 1919 – March 10, 2017) was an African-American poet, writer, and dramatist associated with the Black Arts Movement. Evans received grants and awards including a lifetime achievement award from the Indianapolis Public Libra ...
, and Congresswoman Julia Carson. Phase II of the project commenced after an Indianapolis City-County Council committee issued $5.3 million in bonds for facility upgrades and projects in July 2020. In 2019, the Indianapolis Public Library, in partnership with
Indy Pride Indy Pride is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization based in the Indianapolis, Indiana. It is a community-based, non-profit organization that seeks "to unite and serve its members and the LGBTQ community of Central Indiana through leadership developm ...
and others, dedicated the
Chris Gonzalez Collection The Chris Gonzalez Collection, formerly the Chris Gonzalez Library and Archives, is a special collection housed at the Central Library of the Indianapolis Public Library in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The collection contains more than ...
, named for LGBTQ activist and Indiana Youth Group co-founder
Christopher T. Gonzalez Christopher T. Gonzalez, also known as Chris Gonzalez, was an activist who succumbed to AIDS on May 5, 1994, in Indianapolis. He left a legacy for gay and lesbian youth in and around the Indianapolis area that continues through the non-profit ...
. The collection of 7,000 items relating to local and national LGBTQ+ history and culture were merged with the Central Library collection.


Branches

Besides the Central Library, the Indianapolis Public Library system operates 23 branch libraries and provides
bookmobile A bookmobile or mobile library is a vehicle designed for use as a library. They have been known by many names throughout history, including traveling library, library wagon, book wagon, book truck, library-on-wheels, and book auto service. Bookm ...
services. Eagle and Martindale–Brightwood branches relocated to new buildings in 2019 and 2020, respectively, while the Michigan Road Branch opened in 2018 (replacing the closed Flanner House Branch). Fountain Square Branch was closed in 2020. The newest branch library is West Perry, which opened in July 2021. , two new branch libraries were under construction: Fort Ben in
Lawrence, Indiana Lawrence is a city in Marion County, Indiana, United States. It is one of four " excluded cities" in Marion County. The city is home to Fort Benjamin Harrison within Fort Harrison State Park. The population was 46,001 at the 2010 census. The ci ...
and Glendale in Washington Township.


Notes

:1.This is based on the 2019 population estimate of Marion County, Indiana, subtracting the populations of the Town of Speedway, Indiana. Residents of Speedway are ineligible to be cardholders of the Indianapolis Public Library as the town maintains its own public library.


References


Further reading

* Berry, S.L. ''Stacks: A History of the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library''. Indianapolis: Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Foundation, 2011. *Downey, Lawrence J. ''
Live Thing in the Whole Town: The History of the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library, 1873-1990
'' Indianapolis: Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Foundation, 1991. *Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library. ''Historic Highlights.'' Indianapolis: The Library, 1993. *


External links


Indianapolis Public Library websiteHI Mailbag: History of the Indianapolis Public Library
{{authority control Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana Library buildings completed in 1913 Paul Philippe Cret buildings National Register of Historic Places in Indianapolis County library systems in Indiana Tourist attractions in Indianapolis Buildings and structures in Indianapolis Education in Marion County, Indiana 1873 establishments in Indiana