The Rapid City Public Library is the system 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 ...

Rapid City, South Dakota Rapid City is the county seat of Pennington County, South Dakota, United States. It is located on the eastern slope of the Black Hills in western South Dakota and was named after Rapid Creek (South Dakota), Rapid Creek, where the settlement deve ...

, United States. It is located at 610 Quincy Street. The library offers services at no charge for residents of Pennington County.

History

Library services were first offered in Rapid City beginning in 1879, when a volunteer reading room was organized by community women with $45, donated books and periodicals, and a free subscription to the ''Minneapolis Journal''. In an 1881 charter by the

territorial government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, o ...

, the Rapid City Library Association built Library Hall on the corner of 6th and Kansas City Streets on donated land. In 1915, the city began building a Carnegie library building located on the corner of Kansas City and 6th streets in downtown Rapid City, and in 1917 the library collection moved there. The collection eventually outgrew the space, and in 1972 a new building was opened at 610 Quincy Street. In 2002, the library added an expansion to house the juvenile and young adult collections, as well as to provide a service lobby, drive-through window and covered parking space. In 2008, the Rapid City Public Library opened its first satellite location at 10 Van Buren Street as part of the new General Beadle School Community Center, housing a public elementary school and community hall. In 2020, this location closed as part of a mutual agreement between

Rapid City Area Schools Rapid City Area Schools, formally Rapid City Area School District 51-4, is a public school district serving Rapid City, South Dakota with 31 schools. Boundary The majority of the land is in Pennington County. The district covers all of Rapid C ...

and Rapid City Public Library.

Main location

The Rapid City main library is a , two-story tall building in Rapid City's downtown area. The library has a collection of over 147,000 materials as well as thousands of digital resources, subscriptions to over 40 newspapers and magazines, and 53 public-use computers. Both locations offer free

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

access. In 2008, the main library was named by

Nancy Pearl Nancy Pearl (born January 12, 1945) is an American librarian, best-selling author, literary critic and the former executive director of the Washington Center for the Book at Seattle Public Library.Rebekah DennNancy Pearl trading the quiet confin ...

in ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' as one of "10 Great Places to Find a Nook and Read a Book". The Historical Collections Room contains resources and archives related to Rapid City and the

Black Hills The Black Hills is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black Elk Peak, which rises to , is the range's highest summit. The name of the range ...

area. Included in this collection are oral histories, television broadcasts and photographs of the

1972 Black Hills Flood The Black Hills Flood of 1972, also known as the Rapid City Flood, was the most detrimental flood in South Dakota history, and one of the deadliest floods in U.S. history. The flood took place on June 9–10, 1972 in the Black Hills of Western ...

, rare books focusing on Black Hills history, scrapbooks related to Rapid City mayors and city issues, and miscellaneous collections on a wide spectrum of local history subjects. Local history resources also include online digital collections, such as the Black Hills Knowledge Network of local information; the Rapid City Oral History Project; and thousands of images and documents related to Rapid City and the Black Hills. The Library offers a unique Dial-A-Story services that provides 24/7 access to recorded content. Patrons can call 605-574-7477 from any phone and use the menu to navigate to various recordings.

References

External links

RCPL Main Page

Rapid City Public Library's Carnegie Building, hosted on the RCPL Flickr site
{{Authority control Education in Rapid City, South Dakota Public libraries in South Dakota Buildings and structures in Rapid City, South Dakota