St Johns County Public Library System

St. Johns County Public Library System serves St. Augustine and the surrounding areas of St. Johns County, Florida. The library system has six branches and two bookmobiles.

St Johns County Public Library System
LocationSt Augustine, Florida
Websitewww.sjcpls.org

Mission statement

The St. Johns County Public Library System provides a variety of services to meet the needs of all its citizens in a friendly and courteous manner.

History

In 1874, St. Augustine opened the oldest library in Florida as a "subscription library". The library was called the St. Augustine Free Public Library, located at 12 Aviles Street[1] in downtown St. Augustine, Florida, now known as the Segui-Kirby Smith House. It currently serves as a research library for the Saint Augustine Historical Society.[2] Patrons gave money to help buy books for the library, and there was no charge to check out items.[3]  The leaders of the push for a free public library in St. Augustine were John L. Wilson and his wife, Frances, of Framingham, Massachusetts, winter visitors in St. Augustine since 1868. Wilson negotiated with the U.S. Government for rent-free use of two rooms in the U.S. Customs House for the library. Wilson negotiated with the U.S. Government for rent-free use of two rooms in the U.S. Customs House for the library. In 1895, the Wilson family purchased the birthplace of Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith on Aviles Street to use as a library. The house was given to the St. Augustine Library Association under trusteeship as long as the building was used as a public library.  “The man of wealth had an ethical responsibility,” according to Andrew Carnegie, “to see that his private fortune was used for the public welfare.” The Wilsons agreed with this “social, cultural and intellectual disposition of the affluent in 19th-century America.” [4]

In the Education Report, 1895-96 prepared by Alex Summers, Statistician of the Bureau of Education notes that “the public library is recognized as one of the great forces in modern educational progress”.The United States Board of Education emphasized the importance of libraries as aids to instruction and in annual reports since 1867-68 provided information related to college and school libraries and periodically published detailed statistics of public libraries. Summers’ report for 1895-96 was prepared by sending out requests for information on libraries across the country to 10,000 addresses and about 8,000 responses were received.  In 1895-96 the state of Florida library system reported the following statistics of note: Libraries reporting (13) [5 general, 2 school, 5 college, 1 law], Number of Volumes for patrons available (43,506), Free libraries in the state (3).  In 1895-96 only one free library in Florida having 3,000 volumes or more was reported (4,500) and was the Free Public Library in St. Augustine. The Name of the Librarian on record was John C. Wilson, president and the library reported that (1000) books had been issued during the year for home use.[5]

It was "hard times" for the library in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. In May 1933 the trustees voted to close the library.  The city had not been able to send along its usual appropriation and a trustee, J.L. Ketterlinus who paid many bills and donated regularly had died.  Methods of non-governmental funding were tried, the townspeople rallied around the cause and enough donations came in to warrant a reopening only two months later.[4] Methods of non-governmental funding were tried. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, president of the association in 1942–1943, lent her name to various fund-raising drives. In January 1976, a movement toward a county library system was led by the American Association of University Women, who were joined by the Junior Service League and others. In 1977, an ordinance was passed setting up a county system. It also appointed a five-member advisory board. The following January, the Friends of the Library of St. Johns County was formally organized. A contract was signed in February 1978 between the County Commission and the St. Augustine Library Association for use of the Aviles Street building as a main county library. In 1981, Richard Waters began a library development study under a grant from the State Library. In 1984, Davenport Park was the recommended site for a new library building and a request was made to the St. Augustine City Commission. The city deeded a portion of Davenport Park to the county for the new main library of the St. Johns County Public Library System. On November 6, the voters passed a county-wide referendum for 1 million in funding to provide for the new library. The ground breaking ceremony was held one year later. On February 14, 1987, the dedication for the newly built main library was held.

Now in the 2000s, the St. Johns County Public Library system continues to serve its public. In 2003, the library circulated over one million books in its branches.[6]

Branches

The library systems six branches are: Anastasia Island, Bartram Trail, Hastings, Main (St. Augustine), Ponte Vedra, Southeast and the Bookmobile-Extension Services. Information about branch hours and locations can be found here or by navigating to a branch's page. Each branch's page also provides information about programs and classes offered by the library, this information can also be found through the events calendar.

Anastasia Island Branch

The Anastasia Island Branch opened its doors in 2007 and is located at 124 Seagrove Main Street, St. Augustine, FL 32080. It serves the east portion of St. Johns County.[7]

Bartram Trail Branch

Bartram Trail opened its doors at its current Davis Pond Blvd location in 1996. Previously, the library was located in the Julington Creek Shopping Center on the corner of Racetrack Road and State Road 13. The storefront library opened in 1990 and grew to house 32,000 books in its collection. The Bartram Trail Branch closed its doors at the current location briefly for expansion in April and May 2006. A Grand RE-opening was held on 16 September 2006.

Hastings Branch

The Hastings Branch Library serves the Southwest portion of St. Johns County. The library is housed in what used to be Hastings High School. The library is located at 6195 South Main Street Hastings, Florida 32145.

Main Branch

More than 30 years after its opening, the Main Library continues to be the hub of community activity for St. Augustine. More than 25,000 visitors a month walk through its doors to make use of its numerous services. The Main Library houses the largest print collection in the St. Johns County Public Library System. Collections included in the Main Library are children's, young adult, adult fiction and non-fiction, Florida Reference, audiobooks, DVDs, CDs, magazines, and newspapers.

Ponte Vedra Branch

The Ponte Vedra Branch Library is located in the Northeast portion of St. Johns County. The physical address is 101 Library Blvd, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32082. A history of the branch can be found at

Southeast Branch

As the name suggests, the Southeast Branch Library serves the Southeast portion of the county. The building houses not only the library, but the Administration portion of the library as well as Technical Services and the Bookmobile-Extension Services. The physical address is 6670 US 1 South, St. Augustine, FL 32086.

Bookmobile

St. Johns County established its first bookmobile in 2001, named the LEO Express. This bookmobile was purchased in order to service the elderly and physically disabled residents of the county.

Due to its popularity and additional funding, in 2008 St. Johns County purchased another bookmobile. This bookmobile is called the Bluebird Express and is able to service a larger population of St. Johns County.[8]

Both bookmobiles are housed in the Southeast Branch Library. The two bookmobiles, LEO and Bluebird travel around the county providing services to patrons who are unable to visit the library branches. These bookmobiles service outlying areas, nursing homes, hospitals, schools, parks, recreation centers, and more. The bookmobile schedules and routes can be found here.

The bookmobiles offer a full collection of movies, best selling books, audio books, music CDs, Playaways, and children's books. In August 2010, the library system added its Books by Mail service. The library sends library materials to library patrons for free. These materials can be returned to any branch or bookmobile.[9]

Databases

The library system offers online access to many databases for patron usage at our library or at home here. For home access, patrons need their library card number. Remote access allows the database collection to be available 24-7 to patrons.

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gollark: Make it 0.5-based, as a compromise.
gollark: And in saner countries so do many people.
gollark: My cloud™ servers have gigabit, mostly.
gollark: I automated it, silly.

References
  1. "St. Augustine Public Library 12 Aviles Street St. Augustine Florida". University of Florida. n.d. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  2. "Segui-Kirby Smith House". Florida Department of State. 2019. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  3. "Florida". World Book Encyclopedia. 1998 ed, vol. 7, page 247.
  4. Waterbury, Jean Parker. Where Artillery Lane Crosses Aviles Street: the Seguí/Kirby Smith House.
  5. Summers, Alex. Connecticut. Commissioner of the School Fund. (1809). Report of the Commissioner of the School Fund : reformatted from the original and including, Report of the Commissioners of the School Fund, made to the General Assembly, at their session in . New-Haven: [Published by order of the House of Representatives].
  6. Jacksonville Journal. Florida Times Union 2 Nov. 2003: B-3
  7. http://www.sjcpls.org
  8. http://jacksonville.com/community/shorelines/2009-01-31/story/st_johns_gets_second_bookmobile
  9. http://www.sjcpls.org/content/bookmobile-extension-services

Further reading
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