The Fulton County Library System is a network of

public libraries ''Public Libraries'' is the official publication of the Public Library Association (PLA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). It is devoted exclusively to public libraries. The print edition is published six times a year and i ...

serving the

City of Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County and extends into neighboring DeKalb County. With a population of 520,070 (2024 estimate) living within the city limits, Atlan ...

and Fulton County, both in the U.S. state of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. The system is administered by Fulton County. The system is composed of the

Atlanta Central Library The Atlanta Central Library in Downtown Atlanta is the main library and headquarters of the Atlanta–Fulton Public Library System. The visual conceptualization of the building was influenced by mid-century modernism and the International Style, ...

Downtown Atlanta Downtown Atlanta is the central business district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The largest of the city's three commercial districts (Midtown Atlanta, Midtown and Buckhead being the others), it is the location of many corporate and region ...

, which serves as the library headquarters, as well as the

Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History The Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History is a special library within the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System. It is in Atlanta's Sweet Auburn Historic District. The Auburn Avenue Research Library opened in 19 ...

, and 33 branch libraries.

History

The Young Men's Library Association

The origins of the public library system lie in the Young Men's Library Association (YMLA), a subscription library system established in 1867. The YMLA was open to the public, but only paying members could check out books. Membership was restricted to white men until 1873 when white women were allowed to join. The YMLA system remained the de facto library system of the city for the rest of the century. During the 1890s, however, the YMLA,

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...

, and the City of Atlanta, started to work out the details of a new public library in Atlanta. In 1897 Walter M. Kelly,

's business manager for Southern affairs joined the board of the YMLA and advocated for the construction of a public library because the YMLA could not serve Atlanta's growing population.

The Carnegie Library

On March 4, 1902, the first public library, the Ackerman & Ross-designed Carnegie Library, opened on the site of the current Central Library. When the library opened, only the basement, the stacks, and the children's room were completed. The Carnegie Library remained the main library of the system for most of the century. The library was renovated in 1950 and 1966 through city bond funding. Before 1950 the system was referred to as the Carnegie Library, but to commemorate the renovation of the central Carnegie Library the system was renamed the Atlanta Public Library in 1950. It was in this building that 20

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

men were arrested following a police

stakeout Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing, or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such a ...

in September 1953, an event known as the Atlanta Public Library perversion case. In 1977 the Carnegie Library was torn down to make way for the current Central Library. However, the building's architectural bays were preserved, and used to create the Carnegie Education Pavilion, a monument to higher education in Atlanta.

Expansion of the library system

The Carnegie Library was so successful that within a year after the opening of the library, Carnegie suggested he would give more money to open branch libraries. In 1906 Carnegie formally offered $30,000 for the construction of two branch libraries, as long as the city provided a site and arranged financial support for the library. The Anne Wallace Library, named in honor of the first Carnegie Library librarian, opened in 1909 on the corner of Luckie Street and Merritts Avenue in Northwest Atlanta. Many new branch libraries followed in the years to come. The Ragsdale branch, located in Oakland City, opened in 1912, and in 1913 the Uncle Remus Branch opened in the West End home of

Joel Chandler Harris Joel Chandler Harris (December 9, 1848 – July 3, 1908) was an American journalist and folklorist best known for his collection of Uncle Remus stories. Born in Eatonton, Georgia, where he served as an apprentice on a plantation during his t ...

. Over the next century the library system has expanded from four branches in 1913 to the 34 branches operating today. By 1924 the library system had eight branches throughout the city, and by 1967 the system had 19 branches.

City–county relationship

In the first decades of the library system service was maintained for Atlanta residents only, and as a result Fulton County was left without library service. Using

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

and city funds, the City of Atlanta and the Fulton County Board of Commissioners signed a contract in 1935 to provide library coverage throughout the county. In 1982, however, Georgia passed a constitutional amendment that allowed the city to transfer control of the system to the county, and in 1983 the system was turned over the county control. To reflect the change in control the system was renamed the Atlanta–Fulton Public Library System.

Black Atlantans and the public library

When the Carnegie Library opened in 1902, blacks were excluded from the library. Activist

W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relativel ...

led an unsuccessful campaign for black representation and equal use of the library, or at the very least a branch library for blacks, but the library board rebuffed his efforts. Carnegie had offered funds for a black branch library, but the library system did not use the money until 1921 when

Tommie Dora Barker Tommie Dora Barker (Nov. 15, 1888 – Feb. 6, 1978) was an American librarian and founding dean of Emory Library School in Atlanta, Georgia. She also served as a regional field agent, representing southern libraries, for the American Library Asso ...

, the Director of the

Carnegie Library School The Carnegie Library School of Atlanta (1905 - 1988) was a training school for librarians in Atlanta, Georgia. Emory University has a collection of the school's files. Originally known as Southern Library School, it opened September 20, 1905, with ...

, opened the Auburn Avenue Branch Library, the first branch library for blacks, in the

Sweet Auburn The Sweet Auburn Historic District is a historic African-American neighborhood along and surrounding Auburn Avenue, east of downtown Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The name Sweet Auburn was coined by John Wesley Dobbs, referring to the "rich ...

neighborhood. During segregation two other libraries were opened for the use of blacks. After opening its first branches for African Americans in the 1920's the APL began to employ black female librarians like Annie L. McPheeters. In 1959, Irene Dobbs Jackson, the mother of future Atlanta mayor

Maynard Jackson Maynard Holbrook Jackson Jr. (March 23, 1938 – June 23, 2003) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 52nd mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, from 1974 to 1982, and again as the city's 54th mayor from 1990 to 1994. A member of the ...

requested a library card for the central library. After days of public furor, the library board voted to allow blacks full access to the library on May 19, 1959. Between 1966 and 1973 the library staff was desegregated.

2008 bond referendum

In 2008 Fulton County voters approved a $275 million library bond referendum, which provides money for renovation and construction of library facilities in Fulton County. The plan includes money for eight new libraries, a new central library, expansions of two libraries, and renovations of 23 branch libraries. Five libraries will be built in Alpharetta, Milton, Northwest Atlanta, Wolf Creek, and Stewart-Lakewood. The Alpharetta and Stewart-Lakewood libraries will replace existing libraries, the Northwest Atlanta library will replace three small branch libraries, and the Milton and Wolf Creek libraries will be completely new. A new library will be built in Palmetto/Chattahoochee Hill County, and two new libraries will be built in Southeast Atlanta and East Roswell. The Southeast Atlanta library will replace three small branch libraries. In the original Library Facility Master Plan $34 million was allocated to fully restore and upgrade the site. In the final referendum, however, $84 million was provided for the construction of a new central library. Finally, the Auburn Avenue Research Library and the South Fulton branch library will be expanded.

Central Library

The Central Library in

serves as the headquarters of the library system. Completed in 1980, it was the last building to be designed by

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...

-movement architect

Marcel Breuer Marcel Lajos Breuer ( ; 21 May 1902 – 1 July 1981) was a Hungarian-American modernist architect and furniture designer. He moved to the United States in 1937 and became a naturalized American citizen in 1944. At the Bauhaus he designed the Was ...

. The building, designed in the

brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the b ...

architectural style, is considered a "masterpiece" by architectural experts, such as

Barry Bergdoll Barry Bergdoll is Meyer Schapiro Professor of art history in the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University and from 2007 to 2019 a curator in the Department of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, ...

, the Chief Architectural Curator of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, and is closely related to the

Whitney Museum of Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a modern and contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. The institution was foun ...

building (currently the

Met Breuer The Met Breuer ( ) was a museum of modern and contemporary art in the Breuer Building at Madison Avenue and East 75th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. It served as a branch museum of the Metropolitan Museum of Art ( ...

museum). The Roswell Branch begun in 1946 when volunteers would make weekly trips to the

. In 1955, Arthur W Smith purchased one of the historic "Bricks" apartments in Roswell and the collection was moved there and referred to as the Carnegie Library Deposit at Roswell because all of the books were still being borrowed from the Central Library. It was not until 1965 that the Roswell Library became a full fledged branch with its own collection. Today the library building is named after Arthur W Smith. Initially opened in 1992. In 2001 the library was renamed the Cleveland Avenue- Roy Lyndell Yancey, Sr. Branch Library. The Cleveland Avenue Branch Library is the first ever Fulton County Government roof top solar installation facility.

Branches

*Adams Park Branch *Adamsville–Collier Heights Branch *Alpharetta Branch * Auburn Avenue Research Library *Buckhead Branch *Cascade Branch *Cleveland Avenue Branch *College Park Branch *Dogwood Branch *East Atlanta Branch *East Point Branch *East Roswell Branch *Fairburn Branch *Gladys S. Dennard Library at South Fulton *Hapeville Branch *Kirkwood Branch *Louise Watley Library at Southeast Atlanta *Martin Luther King Jr., Branch *Mechanicsville Branch *Metropolitan Branch *Milton Branch *Northeast/Spruill Oaks Branch *Northside Branch *Northwest Branch at Scotts Crossing *Ocee Branch *Palmetto Branch *Peachtree Branch *Ponce de Leon Branch *Roswell Branch *Sandy Springs Branch *South Fulton Branch *Southeast Atlanta Branch *Washington Park Branch *West End Branch *Wolf Creek Branch

Library systems in neighboring counties

* West Georgia Regional Library to the west * Cobb County Public Library System to the west * Sequoyah Regional Library System to the northwest * Forsyth County Public Library to the northeast *

Gwinnett County Public Library The Gwinnett County Public Library is located in unincorporated Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States, northeast of Atlanta. The library currently has 15 branches throughout the county and employs an interlibrary loan system for those with a va ...

to the east *

DeKalb County Public Library The DeKalb County Public Library (DCPL) is the public library system of DeKalb County, Georgia in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The library system headquarters are at the Darro C. Willey Administrative Offices in Decatur, Georgia, Decatur. Its ...

to the east * Clayton County Library System to the southeast * Flint River Regional Library System to the south * Coweta Public Library System to the south

References

External links

Atlanta–Fulton Public Library System website"One of Finest Libraries in South"
Atlanta Georgian and News, December 24, 1909, from th
Atlanta Historic Newspapers Archive
in the Digital Library of Georgia {{DEFAULTSORT:Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System County library systems in Georgia (U.S. state) Landmarks in Atlanta Public libraries in Georgia (U.S. state) Works Progress Administration in Georgia (U.S. state) Education in Atlanta Education in Fulton County, Georgia Buildings and structures in Atlanta Libraries established in 1902 1902 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)