The Mobile Public Library is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

library system primarily serving

Mobile County, Alabama Mobile County ( ) is a County (United States), county located in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Alabama. It is the third-most populous county in the state after Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson and Madison County, Alabama, Ma ...

. The system is a department of the city of Mobile and receives funding from

Mobile County Mobile County ( ) is a county located in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Alabama. It is the third-most populous county in the state after Jefferson and Madison counties. As of the 2020 census, its population was 414,809. Its co ...

and the city of Saraland.

History

The Mobile Public Library has roots going back to the 1850s, when it was started as a

subscription The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century. It ...

organization by the ''Franklin Society''. The library was officially established as the Mobile Public Library in 1902 and was originally housed in an

antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern US ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum architectu ...

structure at the corner of Conti and Hamilton Street.Thomason, Michael. ''Mobile : the new history of Alabama's first city'', pages 201-202. Tuscaloosa : University of Alabama Press, 2001. The library association appealed to city leaders in the late 1910s to provide operating funds for the library, and it offered to give the city the library property if it would build a new building to house the collections. The city declined to finance the construction of a new building, but did approve operating funds on April 2, 1918. Due to increasing public demand for a library, on December 15, 1925, the city commissioners voted to schedule a special election on a $250,000 bond issue. The voters approved the bond and, along with a gift of $30,000 from Eli H. Bernheim of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, the new library building was constructed. Noted Mobile architect George Bigelow Rogers designed the building in the

Classical Revival Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassic ...

style. The new structure, now known as the Ben May Main Library, was opened on September 15, 1928. The state had passed racial segregation laws at the turn of the century after disenfranchising most blacks and many poor whites in the state, excluding them from politics. Mobile's

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

community did not have access to a public library until one was completed for them in 1931; it was known as the Davis Avenue Branch. It was also designed by George Bigelow Rogers. It was funded by a city bond issue and the city's sale of the old library property on Conti Street. The Ben May Main Library building is a contributing building to the Church Street East Historic District, which was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on December 16, 1971. The system opened a new branch, the West Regional Branch, in 2002, with First Lady

Laura Bush Laura Lane Welch Bush (née Welch; born November 4, 1946) is an American educator who was the first lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009 as the wife of George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States. Bush was previously the fir ...

making an address. Beginning in 2006, the Ben May Main Library building was restored and expanded by . It was reopened on May 31, 2007.

Services

In addition to basic services, participation in several

interlibrary loan Inter-library loan (abbreviated ILL, sometimes called document delivery, document supply, inter-lending, inter-library services, inter-loan, or resource sharing) is a service that enables patrons of one library to borrow materials that are held by ...

systems, and internet access at all locations, the Mobile Public Library provides a range of other services. Free

library card A library card can refer to several Plastic card, cards traditionally used for the management of books and patrons in a library. In its most common use, a library card serves similar functions as a corporate membership card. A person who holds a ...

s are made available to all residents in the Alabama counties of Mobile, Baldwin,

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

Clarke Clarke is a surname which means "clerk". The surname is of English and Irish origin and comes from the Latin . Variants include Clerk and Clark. Clarke is also uncommonly chosen as a given name. Irish surname origin Clarke is a common surname ...

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 ...

, Escambia and Conecuh. Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) cards are also made available for free at all branches.

References

Basic reference material and on-line tools are located at all library locations. Research materials on many subjects including business, laws and regulations, medicine, biographies, art and collectibles, colleges and careers, patents and trademarks, and travel are located at the Ben May Main Library. The system also offers

telephone A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...

reference assistance, document delivery by

fax Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (short for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other out ...

, reference research appointments, and a variety of reference classes.

Local history and genealogy

The Local History and Genealogy Division includes works by local authors, Mobile histories, periodicals, Mobile newspapers on microfilm from 1819 to the present, city directories from 1837 onward, federal census records for most of the

Southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also known as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical List of regions in the United States, region of the United States located in the eastern portion of the Southern United States and t ...

, the Mobile Historic Development Commission's survey of historic architecture in Mobile with 10,000 images stored and indexed on

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

, 10 cabinets of paper files and newspaper clippings on local subjects and the ''Memory Studio'' containing equipment used for media format conversions.

Youth services

This department attempts to meet the needs and interests of children and young adults through the various library collections, services and programs. Books, movie

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

s and VHS, music CDs, audiobooks, back issues of magazines, and

video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

are available to be checked out. Story time for young children is provided at most library locations.

Disabilities

All branches provide handicapped access, materials, and services for patrons with disabilities. A few of the services provided are magnifying glasses, large type books, closed captioned videos, books for and about the handicapped, and instructional books and videos on sign language. In addition, recorded books on discs and cassettes and the equipment for using them are available on free loan to eligible individuals from the Alabama Regional Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped in

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama. Named for Continental Army major general Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River on the Gulf Coastal Plain. The population was 2 ...

Bookmobile

The library operates 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 ...

three days a week at over 30 different stops across Mobile County. Each location is visited every three weeks.

Locations

The system consists of the Ben May Main Library, nine other locations and a Bookmobile.

References

{{authority control County library systems in Alabama Buildings and structures in Mobile, Alabama George Bigelow Rogers buildings Neoclassical architecture in Alabama Education in Mobile County, Alabama Education in Mobile, Alabama