The Cambridge Public Library (CPL) in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most ...

consists of a unified city-wide system maintaining: a main branch, of notable aesthetic architectural value, plus a further six localized branches sited throughout the city. Having evolved from the Cambridge Athenaeum, the main library branch was built at its present site in 1888. The main library most recently underwent renovation, and a modern building addition significantly expanded the overall branch in 2009. Thus, it greatly increased the branch's area, more than tripling its square footage. At current the library system holds more than 314,607 items where in addition to traditional library services, the Cambridge Public Library provides services such as e-books, audiobooks, tax preparation, large print, films, music, graphic novels, online resources, newspapers, magazines and educational programs among others.The library provides city-wide delivery services to homebound residents of Cambridg

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History of organization

The Cambridge Public Library developed out of the Cambridge Athenaeum, which was founded in 1849 as "a lyceum, public library, and reading room with a building on the corner of Massachusetts Avenue, (Cambridge, Massachusetts), Massachusetts Avenue and Pleasant Street where Cambridge residents could borrow books at the cost of one dollar per year. The City of Cambridge acquired the Cambridge Athenaeum in 1858 and renamed it the ''Dana Library'' for use as both a

city hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

and a public library. By 1866, the Library moved to the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Temple Street. In 1874, the library became free to the public and was renamed the Cambridge Public. Through the philanthropic endeavors of

Frederick H. Rindge Frederick Hastings Rindge (1857–1905) was an American business magnate, patriarch of the illustrious and prominent Rindge family, real estate developer, philanthropist, and writer, of Los Angeles, California. He was a major benefactor to his ...

(and the

Rindge Family The Rindge family is an American family of British origin that was financially successful in real estate, natural resource development, and insurance. History The successes of the Rindge family began with the Cambridge, Massachusetts textile, ...

), the main branch of the Cambridge Public Library was subsequently moved to the

Mid-Cambridge Mid-Cambridge, also known as "Area 6", is a neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is bounded by Massachusetts Avenue on the south and west, Prospect Street on the east, and Hampshire Street, the Somerville Somerville may refer to: *Somervi ...

neighborhood where it was built in 1888 at 449 Broadway. In 2020 the CPL sought to partially fund the establishment of the Community based - Cambridge Public Library STEAM Academy.

City Branches

Main Library

Cambridge Public Library - Cambridge, MA - DSC00110

The main library of the Cambridge Public Library consists of two buildings at 449 Broadway. The Van Brunt & Howe portion is a historic

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

building. It was built in 1888 with land and full construction funding donated by

, a Cambridge native and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

. Its

Richardsonian Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesq ...

design was by

Van Brunt & Howe Henry Van Brunt FAIA (September 5, 1832 – April 8, 1903) was a 19th-century United States, American architect and architectural writer. Life and work Van Brunt was born in Boston in 1832 to Gershom Jacques Van Brunt and Elizabeth Price Brad ...

br>
In the late 1960s, a more contemporary addition of plain brick exterior was created at the rear of the main librar

The building 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 artist ...

in 1982. The newly expanded building consists of a $90 million expansion and renovation of the earlier library, led by the Boston architectural firms William Rawn Associates and Ann Beha Architect

The expanded library opened on November 8, 2009. The new addition more than tripled the square footage of the building and is the first building in the US to make use of European Double-Skin curtain wall (architecture), Curtainwall technolog

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Architectural drawings and construction

photos A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now create ...

are availabl
here
During most of the construction, the library collection had been relocated to the former Longfellow School building. In 2010 the main library received a

LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, constructio ...

Silver certification from the

U.S. Green Building Council The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), co-founded by Mike Italiano, David Gottfried and Rick Fedrizzi in 1993, is a private 501(c)3, membership-based non-profit organization that promotes sustainability in building design, construction, and op ...

. The surrounding park and lawn grounds of the Joan Lorentz Park found at the main building is a popular meeting place for various interest groups, including pickup soccer,

slacklining Slacklining refers to the act of walking, running or balancing along a suspended length of flat webbing that is tensioned between two anchors. Slacklining is similar to slack rope walking and tightrope walking. Slacklines differ from tightw ...

, book and religious study groups, casual picnics, and the traditional practice of various martial and therapeutic art

https://www.cambridgema.gov/news/2015/01/cambridgepubliclibraryreceivesnationalhonorawardinarchitecture] The main library and surrounding park sit at a top of a 70-car underground parking garage.

Building features and art works

= Museum of Science Community Solar System

= Prior to the renovation of the main library, the library was home to a scale model of the

planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a ...

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; ...

in the Boston Museum of Science's community-wide

Solar System model Solar System models, especially mechanical models, called '' orreries'', that illustrate the relative positions and motions of the planets and moons in the Solar System have been built for centuries. While they often showed relative sizes, these ...

. Saturn was located just outside the portion of the building that housed the old stacks, roughly where the computer workstation sign-in table is currently located. The Saturn model was packed up and shipped back to the Museum of Science and was not positioned at the reopened renovated library. Other locations in Cambridge that still have models in the historic nine planet series are the Royal Sonesta Hotel (home of

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surf ...

) and the

CambridgeSide CambridgeSide (previously CambridgeSide Galleria) is an enclosed shopping mall in Cambridge, Massachusetts that opened in 1990. , the mall is anchored by TJ Maxx. Previous anchors include department stores Filene's, Lechmere, Macy's, Macy' ...

mall (home of

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmos ...

). There are a further six smaller neighborhood branch libraries around the City of Cambridge:

Governance & funding

The library system is governed by a board of trustees consisting of six volunteer trustees acting as community representative members appointed by the Cambridge City Manager. Meetings of the board are open to the publi

The day-to-day oversight is by the Director of Libraries, who is supported further by managers at the separate neighborhood branches. The system is funded primarily through property taxes as a department of the City of Cambridge and receives additional support from the Cambridge Public Library Foundation and Friends of the Cambridge Public Library. In fiscal year 2014, the city of Cambridge spent 1.63% ($7,064,381) of its city budget towards the library, $66 per person.

Collection(s)

As of 2023 card holders are offered extensive online resources.

Awards and recognition

Memberships

Academic and research library memberships for Cambridge Public Library include: *

Minuteman Library Network The Minuteman Library Network (MLN), founded in 1984, is a consortium of 41 public and academic libraries in the MetroWest and southern Middlesex County areas of eastern Massachusetts, US that share resources, patrons and services. The Network h ...

References

External links

*
Cambridge Public Library Foundation, Inc.

Friends of the Cambridge Public Library
{{Authority control Library buildings completed in 1888 Public Library, Cambridge

Libraries in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Cambridge, Massachusetts Public libraries in Massachusetts Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in Massachusetts