For nearly as long as humans have attempted to communicate via the written word, libraries or repositories of writings have been in existence.
Consider religious scripture stored in amphoras deep within caves such as the Dead Sea Scrolls or Rome’s first library, opened roughly around 114 A.D. by Emperor Trajan. While these early written collections were not for the general public, they represent humankind’s need to share thoughts through visual representation.
It may prove interesting to note, before we get to the modern era, that the oldest, continually operating library in the world is located in Fez, Morocco. It contains some 4,000 works and many rare volumes. Opened in 1359 A.D., it is located at the University of Al-Qarawiyyin. So libraries have been around a mighty long time.
Taking a bit of a deeper dive into the history of libraries finds one realizing that those considered in the upper echelon of society were the ones with access to written works. People with wealth were people who could pay for teachers to educate their offspring or scribes to write what they themselves could only speak. So we find wealth a major factor in dictating who could read and thusly, who would desire written works.
Home libraries were commonplace, as private residences with rooms dedicated to books were constructed for well-healed property owners. Universities and institutions of higher learning had their own libraries geared toward the further study and education of the student body, not the general public. Indeed, private libraries were anywhere money could be found but not for the use of the commoners.
The esteemed Benjamin Franklin is given credit for establishing a library in 1731 called the Library Company of Philadelphia. It was a subscription-based organization. If you bought a membership, you would have access to the materials stored there. Again, the average person did not have the cash to join the library, food being much more essential.
The first “free” public library in the United States was opened in 1833 in Peterborough, New Hampshire, supported by the municipality for use by the general public. Between 1870 and 1930, the emergence of free, local libraries was becoming widespread. Within that same period of time (1881-1919), Andrew Carnegie is credited with financing numerous libraries.
The Sturgis Library in Barnstable stakes its claim as the oldest building to house a public library in the U.S. The history of the structure located at 3090 Main Street began its life in 1644 at a private residence of the Reverend John Lothrop. Later, front rooms in the home were used for worship and volumes of books.
The Sturgis Library spent countless hours documenting its history for website consumers and while doing so, has done shout outs to other elder libraries, giving them fair treatment in the annuls of time.
The larger history Sturgis published includes the Library Company of Burlington (New Jersey) founded in November 1757. As the story goes, colonists petitioned King George II to grant them license to operate a business charter. It was granted in 1758 and remains today the same charter originally granted. Sturgis noted that several members of the New Jersey library assisted our Mr. Ben Franklin is setting up his Library Company in Philadelphia.
Their research notes that the Scoville Memorial Library in Salisbury, Connecticut, also claims to be the first publicly funded library in the U.S. Free to the public since 1803, the Boston Public Library states it is, “the first publicly supported, free, municipal library in the world,” and the first to include spaces exclusively for children.
The firsts go on. Franklin Public Library in nearby Franklin claims the “first lending library” title, and the Redwood Library and Athenaeum in Newport, Rhode Island, also claims the oldest lending library title, as well as the oldest library building in continuous use in the country. Amen.
The Brumback Public Library in Van Wert, Ohio, states it is the oldest county library, while the Oswego (New York) Public Library opened in 1857 claims it is the oldest public library still in its original building. And not to be forgotten, the Biblioteca Palafoxiana in Mexico calls itself the first library of the Americas.
A little closer to home, we have not one, not two, but three small-town libraries, each a world-class organization unto itself: Marion’s Elizabeth Taber Library, Rochester’s Joseph H. Plumb Library and the Mattapoisett Free Public Library.
Like libraries everywhere, these institutions have been on a continuous journey of finding new and engaging ways to remain relevant in an age of laser-speed micro-processing and the internet.
But likely the biggest challenge yet to be faced by a public-facing, municipal facility has been COVID-19. Through the pandemic, all three libraries rose to the occasion, doing all they could to help their patrons not only feel connected to society but actually be connected to society.
“People still want books,” stated Mattapoisett Free Public Library Director Jennifer Jones. She said that during COVID as well as before and after the height of the pandemic, “getting books in hands,” has remained important.
Jones said that publishers have pushed for e-books and the library offers a wide selection, but printed, tactile books are in demand. The library services people of all ages in numerous ways from assistance with technology to helping locate research materials to lending cake pans. We recently found ourselves in need of an iPhone plug to charge our old phone. The library had one to borrow.
Taber Library Director Elizabeth Sperry said of the need for libraries to continue evolving, “Libraries are historic and modern.” She said they have everything from printers and copiers for the public to use to toys and home-schooling materials for the public to borrow. “We marry the tactile and the technology,” she said, meaning they have something for each and every member of the public.
Plumb Memorial Library Director Kristen Cardoso stated, “The library is a public space, a space where we can connect.” She said the people are still coming out of the isolation brought on by the pandemic. Cardoso sees the library as “a community versus a structure.”
Cardoso also emphasized the number of items available to check out of the library, from STEM Moby backpacks filled with entertaining and educational projects that can be done in a kid’s own backyard to a telescope. “You never know what you can get at the library,” she said. But one thing is for sure, Cardoso added, “Libraries care about people.”
By Marilou Newell