Memphis Public Library

The history of Memphis Public Libraries began in the 1880s, when the city received $75,000 from Frederick Cossitt to build a public library on a plot of land near the Mississippi River. With the city promising funds for operations, Cossitt’s gift was used entirely on the construction of the library, resulting in an elaborate Romanesque design by architect L.B. Wheeler.

However, when the library opened on April 12, 1893, it was soon made clear that the city government lacked funds for books; upon its grand opening, the library's shelves were empty. Memphians acted quickly, holding fundraisers and events that would eventually fill the Cossitt Library with books and research materials.[3]

In March 1925, Jesse Cunningham was hired to serve as former library director Charles Dutton Johnston’s successor. A graduate from the New York State Library School, Cunningham introduced a number of new standards to Memphis. In 1931 Cunningham established libraries were established in Shelby County schools, and a bookmobile began to service up to fifteen rural communities. By 1939 a library branch for African Americans was built on Vance Avenue, which has since been named for longtime Vance resident and civil rights activist, Cornelia Crenshaw. [5]

Not long after the construction of the Highland branch and main library in 1951 and 1955, respectively, C. Lamar Wallis was brought on after Cunningham's retirement in 1958. Under Wallis's leadership a branch was built in nearly every section of the county. In 1973, it was decided that city and county governments would jointly fund local libraries, marking the creation of the Memphis/Shelby County Public Library system.[6]

Despite advancements, library facilities remained racially segregated, leading African-American accountant Jesse H. Turner to sue the Memphis Public in 1958.

Sit-in demonstrations were also held by black college students. On March 20, 1960 students sat in at the Central Library and the Cossitt Reference Library.[7] They were arrested and jailed.[8] This event, combined with Turner’s lawsuit, led to the desegregation of all public libraries in October 1960.[9]

Controversy during Wallis's tenure continued; in 1969 he gained national attention for refusing to remove Phillip Roth's novel Portnoy's Complaint against the mayor's objections. This along with his call to desegregate Memphis's public libraries led Wallis to receive the Tennessee Library Association's Freedom of Information Award in 1998.[10]

Judith A. Drescher was brought on in 1985 as the sixth library director, and the first female library director in Memphis. She exercised the system’s belief that libraries are a core information source for the community by bringing underserved areas library services via mobile units. Additionally, she oversaw the construction of the Cordova and East Shelby branches.[11]

In 2001, the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library opened to the public. The impressive new addition to the Memphis Public Library system featured a multi-story hub comprising a large children’s section, space for communal gatherings, reading rooms, computer training labs, and more.[12] To this day the Benjamin L. Hooks branch continues to be a source of innovation in the community, with its recent addition of teen learning lab CLOUD901.

Opened in 2015, CLOUD901 is a learning lab with facilities including editing and mixing stations, video production labs and 3D printers, among a number of performance and study areas.[15] CLOUD901 is located in the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library.

Second Editions is a used bookstore that offers a wide selection of preowned books, CDs, vinyl, DVDs, and audiobooks.[16] Its extensive collection is offered at bargain prices, a portion of which are put toward Memphis Public Libraries. Though Second Editions’ main location is in the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library, bargain books and materials are readily available at every branch.

WYPL (89.3 FM) is a non-commercial radio station that provides an open radio reading service to patrons. Book readings, author interviews, and both local and international news programming are among the station's offerings. The wide array of broadcasts spans from Eye On Vision, a program featuring doctors' input on the latest research in the field of vision and eye care, to AfricaLink, which provides insight into the latest developments in African news.[17] The station's diverse and quality content has led it to be selected as the Model Radio Reading Service by the American Foundation for the Blind.[4]