Louisville Free Public Library - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Louisville Free Public Library (LFPL) is the largest public library

Library

In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...

system in Kentucky

Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

. Officially opened in 1908, the library's main site resides south of Broadway in downtown

Downtown Louisville

Downtown Louisville is the largest central business district in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the urban hub of the Louisville, Kentucky Metropolitan Area. Its boundaries are the Ohio River to the north, Hancock Street to the east, York and Jacob Streets to the south, and 9th Street to the west...

Louisville

Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

. Additional branches were added over time, including the Western Colored Branch

Louisville Free Public Library, Western Colored Branch

The Louisville Free Public Library, Western Colored Branch, built in 1907, was the first Carnegie library built for African-Americans. Also known as Louisville Free Public Library, Western Branch, the library is a branch of the Louisville Free Public Library system. The library was listed on the...

, which was the first Carnegie-housed library in the U.S. built solely for African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

s.

In 1950 the library became the first library in the nation to put its own FM-radio station on the air—WFPL

WFPL

WFPL is a 24-hour listener-supported, noncommercial radio station in Louisville, Kentucky, broadcasting at 89.3 MHz and focusing on news. The station is the NPR affiliate for the Louisville market. WFPL is now owned by Louisville Public Media and was originally owned by the Louisville Free...

. A second station, WFPK

WFPK

WFPK is a 24-hour listener-supported, noncommercial radio station in Louisville, Kentucky, broadcasting at 91.9 MHz FM featuring an adult album alternative format. The station plays national and local alternative music as well as jazz all day on Sunday....

, joined it a few years later. Then in 1969, a $4 million north building was added to the Revival-style Carnegie structure. This provided an additional 110000 square feet (10,219.3 m²) of floor space, compared to the 42,000 in the original building.

At one time LFPL had over 30 branches, but because of lack of funding a number of branches were forced to close. Currently, there are 16 branches, in addition to the main library site. Internet services and inter-library loan have helped to make up for fewer branches.

In 2007, a proposed tax increase to pay for Louisville Free Public Library improvements and ongoing costs was soundly defeated in spite of strong support by many political and business leaders. Nonetheless, with the help of the Library Foundation and community support a new education and technology driven $1.9 million branch library was completed and opened in the Newburg area (a traditionally underserved community) in August 2009.

In early August 2009 the main branch was flooded when a storm dropped 7 inches of water on the city in 75 minutes. The library servers, bookmobiles, offices, and processing rooms were under 6 feet of water. 50,000 books were destroyed, and the building severely damaged with a total estimate of $5 million. Structural, mechanical, electrical, and computer systems damage were near complete forcing the main library to close for several weeks. Other branches in the system in hard hit areas were closed for a few days while damage was assessed and cleanup undertaken. Overall, however, the library system itself remained open for business throughout the event. The last time the main building flooded was in the Ohio River Flood of 1937

Ohio River flood of 1937

The Ohio River flood of 1937 took place in late January and February 1937. With damage stretching from Pittsburgh to Cairo, Illinois, one million persons were left homeless, with 385 dead and property losses reaching $500 million...

. Two other branches of the library system were damaged or effected in the flooding as well: Bon Air Regional Branch, Iroquois Branch, and Shawnee Branch libraries. Despite the level of damage, library services at all branches, including the main, have been able to return to near full service.

Renovations and Improvements

In August 2009, when a record rainfall dumped more than 3 feet of water into the basement of the Louisville Free Public Library’s Main Library at Fourth and York streets, the damages to the facility and its holdings amounted to nearly $8 million.

Library management decided that rather than simply repair the damage, they would move ahead with plans to renovate and improve the Main Library with millions of dollars in capital improvements, especially its South Building, which fronts on York Street. By the end of 2010, the library expects to have spent about $12 million on renovations and improvements .

External links

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