The Luzerne County Library System (LCLS) is an organization that administers ten libraries in

Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Luzerne County is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and is water. It is Northeaste ...

. Founded in 1984, it is headquartered at the Osterhout Free Library in

Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Wilkes-Barre ( , alternatively or ) is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in the 2020 census. It ...

. Along with hosting various permanent and temporary collections of books and media, the member libraries provide various services and activities.

Description

Isaac Smith Osterhout willed a substantial portion of his estate for the establishment of a free public library. In 1887, the board of directors hired

Melvil Dewey Melville Louis Kossuth "Melvil" Dewey (December 10, 1851 – December 26, 1931) was an American librarian and educator who invented the Dewey Decimal system of library classification. He was a founder of the Lake Placid Club, a chief librarian a ...

, creator of the Dewey decimal system, to act as an adviser. Dewey recommended that the board buy the First Presbyterian Church, an edifice built in 1849, and use it for approximately 10 years until permanent arrangements could be made. As it happened, this became the permanent arrangement. The Gothic architecture of the church proved quite suitable for a library. The library trustees hired Hannah Packard James to be the first head librarian and assigned her the task of organizing and preparing the library for its grand opening. The original library collection (approximately 10,000 volumes) consisted of books from Osterhout's personal collection, part of the Atheneum (a local subscription library), and 9,500 volumes purchased from Charles Scribner and Sons. The Osterhout Free Library finally opened its doors to the public on January 29, 1889, and was one of the first libraries in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Founded in 1984, the Luzerne County Library System (LCLS) is an organization that administers ten libraries in

. It is headquartered at the Osterhout Free Library in

. A library card from any member library allows patrons to borrow books and media from one library and return it to another.

Libraries

The library system comprises * Back Mountain Memorial Library, Back Mountain * Hazleton Area Public Library, Hazleton * Hoyt Library,

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

* Marian Sutherland Kirby Library, Mountaintop * Mill Memorial Library, Nanticoke * Osterhout Free Library, Wilkes-Barre * Pittston Memorial Library,

Pittston Pittston is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city lies in the Wyoming Valley on the east side of the Susquehanna River and on the south side of the Lackawanna River. It is approximately midway between Wilkes-Barre, Pen ...

* Plymouth Public Library,

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

* West Pittston Library, West Pittston * Wyoming Free Library,

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

Collections

Along with permanent collections that include

microfilm A microform is a scaled-down reproduction of a document, typically either photographic film or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the original d ...

of old newspapers, the libraries host various temporary collections of art or memorabilia.

Services

The system has hosted lecture series about the history of the region it serves. It has activities for children, an annual Summer reading program, and an annual book sale at the Osterhout Free Library. The Osterhout has an immigration resource center, partially funded by grants. Some activities aimed at adults have included adult coloring books.

References

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