Research Guides: Hacking the Library: (1) Research

research

Moments and timelines in library history

A history of US public libraries How to cite: Brady, Hillary, and Franky Abbott. A History of US Public Libraries. Digital Public Library of America. September 2015. https://dp.la/exhibitions/history-us-public-libraries. This exhibition tells the story of the American public library system, its community impact, and the librarians who made it possible—from the founding of the first US libraries through the first one hundred years of service.
History of libraries timeline 2600 BC to present worldwide Historydraft is a collaborative map-based visualized draft of human history. See the FAQ for support verifying content.
The Library of Congress: A Timeline A chronology of key events in the history of the Library of Congress
Los Angeles Public Library Timeline From the library's humble beginnings in various rented spaces in 1872, when we were then known as the Los Angeles Library Association, to present day Central Library and 72 neighborhood branches, Los Angeles Public Library has cultivated and inspired young readers, nurtured student success, championed literacy and lifelong learning, contributed to Los Angeles' economic growth, stimulated the imagination of millions and strengthened community connections all around the city.
The New York Public Library Through the Years Celebrating 125 Years of The New York Public Library Since its founding in 1895, The New York Public Library has been a source of inspiration and strength for all. With 92 locations across the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, NYPL is an essential resource for communities across New York City, as well as for users from around the world. Here's a look back at some of the Library's important moments.
History of San Francisco Public Library The doors of San Francisco’s first public library swung open on June 7, 1879 in Pacific Hall, a rented space housing a collection of 6,000 books in a Bush Street office building in the Financial District. It was relocated to a wing of City Hall in 1888, a facility that was virtually leveled by the 1906 earthquake. A noble, granite structure housing 200,000 volumes opened as a monument to knowledge in the majestic new Civic Center on February 15, 1917. This library has since been repurposed as the Asian Art Museum when the “new” Main Library opened April 18, 1996. Over the course of its 142-year history, the Library has significantly expanded its footprint boasting the 2nd most libraries per square mile in the country.
American Library Association history In September 1853, a convention was held in New York City with the intent of forming a permanent organization. The conference was attended by 80 men. Charles C. Jewett (Smithsonian Institution) was elected president. Seth Hastings Grant (New York Mercantile Library) was elected secretary. A committee of five members was appointed to organize a second meeting in 1854. That meeting was not held.

History of the WVU Libraries

The Charles C. Wise Library: A Retrospective This 32 page book (5,569KB PDF) presents the fascinating story of the “tremendous setting for learning” and contains beautiful photographs documenting the library’s growth from 1931 to 2006.
Brief History of the WVU Libraries from 1931 This 20 page history (136KB PDF) covers the WVU Libraries from 1931 to 1999

Recent WVU Libraries history

PLOS and WVU Libraries Sign Deal West Virginia University (WVU) Libraries has begun a partnership with PLOS, providing researchers with the opportunity to publish--without article-processing charges (APCs)--in any of its OA titles during the next 3 years. Trotta, A. A. (2022). Plos and wvu libraries sign deal. Computers in Libraries, 42 (9), 27.
What It's Like to Be a Wikipedian in Residence While at WVU, I created a service learning model for students to learn about Wikipedia, how to edit it, and why their voice is needed on the site. The program allowed students to edit based on their interests, and they were able to join a global community of dedicated volunteers while earning required service learning credit to graduate. Doyle, K. (2018). What it's like to be a wikipedian in residence. Information Today, 35(9), 1–1.

desegregation and American libraries

Desegregation and race in American libraries

The Dark History of Segregated Libraries While some of us may be dismissive of libraries and their centrality to our lives, those without regular access to computers, media, books, social services, and climate-controlled environments utilize libraries to learn, to grow, to feel safe, and, most importantly, for connection to their community. In libraries, people can register to vote, investigate their ancestry, attend lectures, obtain free tickets to local museums, gain technology skills, and raise their children to become avid readers.
Desegregating Public Libraries The untold stories of civil rights heroes in the Jim Crow South On Sunday, June 24, the governing Council of American Library Association (ALA) passed a historic resolution that “apologizes to African Americans for wrongs committed against them in segregated public libraries” and commends those “who risked their lives to integrate public libraries for their bravery and courage in challenging segregation in public libraries and in forcing public libraries to live up to the rhetoric of their ideals.”
Segregated Libraries [in the DPLA History of Public Libraries exhibit] As public libraries spread across the United States at the turn of the twentieth century, state and local racial segregation laws were denying African Americans access to public facilities across the US South. In other regions of the country, state and local governments supported discriminatory labor and housing practices that, in concert with prevailing racist social ideas, restricted African American access to public spaces as well. In 1896, the Supreme Court upheld the "separate but equal" facilities as constitutional in Plessy vs. Ferguson, which justified the creation of segregated public spaces for African Americans, including schools and libraries, that were in practice inferior and underfunded compared to those available to whites.
They held a ‘read-in’ at a whites-only library in 1961 and helped end segregation. Meet the Tougaloo Nine. Sawyer quietly pleaded that police would hurry, please hurry, and arrest her for taking a seat in the whites-only library. She’d rather go to jail than face the crowd gathering along the sidewalk on State Street. That morning, Sawyer, 20, a junior, along with eight fellow students from Tougaloo Southern Christian College, a private, historically Black school outside Jackson, walked into the public library designated for white patrons only.
Desegregating Libraries in the American South Over the past six decades, the media, local and state governments, professional associations, and civic organizations of all kinds have apologized for doing little or nothing while black people were beaten, jailed, and sometimes killed for standing up for their civil rights. The numerous confrontations over integrating public libraries in the South, however, have largely gone unrecognized. By Wayne A. Wiegand | June 1, 2017 American Libraries Magazine.

Clippings from The Greenville News and The Piedmont, courtesy of the Greenville (S.C.) County Library System

Not Free, Not for All by Cheryl Knott Americans tend to imagine their public libraries as time-honored advocates of equitable access to information for all. Through much of the twentieth century, however, many black Americans were denied access to public libraries or allowed admittance only to separate and smaller buildings and collections. While scholars have examined and continue to uncover the history of school segregation, there has been much less research published on the segregation of public libraries in the Jim Crow South. In fact, much of the writing on public library history has failed to note these racial exclusions. In Not Free, Not for All, Cheryl Knott traces the establishment, growth, and eventual demise of separate public libraries for African Americans in the South, disrupting the popular image of the American public library as historically welcoming readers from all walks of life. Using institutional records, contemporaneous newspaper and magazine articles, and other primary sources together with scholarly work in the fields of print culture and civil rights history, Knott reconstructs a complex story involving both animosity and cooperation among whites and blacks who valued what libraries had to offer. African American library advocates, staff, and users emerge as the creators of their own separate collections and services with both symbolic and material importance, even as they worked toward dismantling those very institutions during the era of desegregation.
ISBN: 9781625341785
Publication Date: 2015

Eyes on the Stars StoryCorps 3:16

On January 28, 1986, NASA Challenger mission STS-51-L ended in tragedy when the shuttle exploded 73 seconds after takeoff. On board was physicist Ronald E. McNair, who was the second African American to enter space. But first, he was a kid with big dreams in Lake City, South Carolina.