The Corvallis-Benton County Public Library is a

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending 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 servic ...

located in the American city of

Corvallis, Oregon Corvallis ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Benton County, Oregon, Benton County in central western Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton Co ...

. The library's

motto A motto (derived from the Latin language, Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian language, Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a Sentence (linguistics), sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of a ...

is "Enrich, excite, explore!" It is part of a city-county system with branches in

Alsea The Alsea are a Native American tribe of Western Oregon. They are (since 1856), confederated with other Tribes on the Siletz Reservation, Oregon, and are members of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz. Their origin story says that the Yaquina, A ...

Monroe Monroe or Monroes may refer to: People and fictional characters * Monroe (surname) * Monroe (given name) * James Monroe, 5th President of the United States * Marilyn Monroe, actress and model Places United States * Monroe, Arkansas, an unincorp ...

, and

Philomath A philomath () is a lover of learning and studying. The term is from Greek (; "beloved", "loving", as in philosophy or philanthropy) and , (, ; "to learn", as in polymath). Philomathy is similar to, but distinguished from, philosophy in that ...

as well as a

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. Boo ...

History

Origins

The first library in Benton County was a privately owned circulating library operated in Corvallis during the decade of the 1860s by a resident named J.W. Souther.David D. Fagan,
of Benton County, Oregon; Including its Geology, Topography, Soil and Productions...
' Portland, OR: A.G. Walling, 1885; pg. 336. Souther advertised in the local newspaper, the '' Corvallis Gazette'' the opportunity for subscribers to take advantage of his 730 volumes of "choice reading" for a fee of $5 per year. Planning for a public library for the town of

began early in the decade of the 1870s. In December 1872, acting response to public interest in the idea of a public library for the city, wealthy railroad investor Dr. J. R. Bayley announced that if a permanent public library association would be formed, that he would provide the group with use of a room inside a new brick building that he was in the process of constructing.''The Oregonian,'' vol. 12, no. 275 (Dec. 16, 1872), pg. 1.

New library construction

The present library building was designed by architect

Pietro Belluschi Pietro Belluschi (August 18, 1899 – February 14, 1994) was an Italian-American architect. A leading figure in modern architecture, he was responsible for the design of over 1,000 buildings.Belluschi, Pietro. (2007). In ''Encyclopædia Britanni ...

in 1932. A modest expansion followed in 1965 and a major reconfiguration and expansion in 1992. In 2008, a history of the Corvallis-Benton County Library written by Thomas C. McClintock was published. The library has been listed as one of the top ten libraries in the country (1997, 1999, 2000) based on population served by

Hennen's American Public Library Ratings There are several national systems for assessing, evaluating, or otherwise rating the quality of public libraries. United States Basic library statistics (not rankings) were initially maintained by the National Center for Educational Statistics; ...

History

Origins

New library construction

Footnotes

Further reading