A History of US Public Libraries

Segregated Libraries

From 1880 to 1920, more than twenty million immigrants arrived in the US. Many traveled by steamboat at major ports and then set out via railroad for destinations across the country. Public libraries responded in specific ways to this massive influx of European immigrants, and, in certain parts of the country, to immigrants from Puerto Rico, Mexico, the Philippines, and Japan.
 In response, public libraries amassed foreign-language collections that reflected the particular needs of the ethnic and national groups represented in their respective communities. Established in 1918, the American Library Association’s Committee on Work with the Foreign Born published a series of guidebooks for adapting collections to meet the needs of immigrants, starting with The Polish Immigrant and His Reading in 1924, followed by German, Greek, and Italian volumes. The emphases of these guides was on expanding collections to attract immigrants to libraries, supporting their reading interests, and giving librarians tips about serving people from other cultural backgrounds.
Public librarians in some places also made more holistic changes to library programming to engage recent immigrant arrivals. Beginning in the 1930s, Pura Belpré, New York City’s first Puerto Rican librarian, transformed the New York Public Library’s 115th Street branch into a vibrant community center for newly arrived Puerto Rican immigrants by purchasing Spanish-language books, instituting bilingual story hours, and offering programs on traditional holidays. With these innovations, Belpré modeled to other public libraries ways to serve the needs of Spanish-speaking patrons and advocated for the importance of their inclusion in public library strategy.

115th Street, story-telling group, African American children with Miss Pura Belpre

Immigrants and Americanization

Beginnings

A Profession for Women

Carnegie Libraries

Community Services

Libraries on the Move

Conclusion

Information at your public library: an American privilege

Throughout the 1920s, librarians began to view the Americanization process increasingly as part of the newly identified adult education movement. This movement considered the needs not only of illiterate foreign-born immigrants but also of illiterate American-born adults. The once distinctly separate goals of American public libraries—to educate the general populace and to Americanize immigrants—were merging. Many public libraries understood their mission as building a literate citizenry composed of both foreign- and native-born Americans who were imbued with a spirit of patriotism.
The Adult Education Movement spread to public libraries through the committee and reporting work of the American Library Association. ALA promoted the creation of adult education programming in the form of literacy classes and discussion groups. Often, these groups offered discussion about patrons’ shared “American Heritage” and encouraged participants to understand present-day events, like the imagined communist threats during the Cold War, in the context of traditional American values like democracy. Adult education programming continued to include literacy offerings throughout the twentieth century and many public libraries still offer citizenship test preparation today.

Excerpt from 20 Years. Richard B. Harrison Public Library. Raleigh, N.C. (page 11)

Program: "Our American Heritage" The American Heritage Discussion Group. West Hunter Branch Atlanta Public Library, January 20, 1953

Excerpt from Horton Branch Library in action (page 15)