Palm Beach County Library System

The Palm Beach County Library System provides services to area patrons. The Adult Literacy Project provides those learning English as a second language with informal conversation sessions. Project members encourage community participation in the program, including educational materials, sponsors, tutors, student workshops and cultural events.[7]

The Palm Beach County Library System provides on- and off-site story time service to local child centers, as well as workshops to assist teachers in storytelling techniques.[8] The libraries within the Palm Beach County Library System also offer a social gathering venue and educational and craft programs for children and teens of various ages. These activities cover a large array of subjects such as Dungeons and Dragons, Teen Trivia, Anime classes and discussion groups, Teen Gaming, Poetry, and Harry Potter classes. The education-based programs are also meant to offer new skills, tutoring opportunities and teach safety skills. They also offer many online and technology-related classes for all ages. All the classes are focused towards specific age groups.[9] Adults are also offered an array of programs for socializing, education, and entertaining. These classes focus on subjects such as practice of the English language, stress, Meditation, Yoga, crocheting, poetry, music and movie viewing. Some of these classes are focused on professional tasks such as taxes, résumé updates, new computer skills, online learning, and Medicare.[10] The Palm Beach County Library System offers an Ask-a-Librarian service, where individuals are able to receive live reference service without entering a library building.[11]

Each class is designed to meet the needs of local citizens within their area. Palm Beach County is large, and there are many libraries with different local demographics, so each one chooses the necessary programs to meet their patrons' needs. The library also offers Books-By-Mail, a Deaf Resource Center, and Talking Books services to those in special populations.[12] Book Club in a Bag is another service offered which facilitates the selection of titles (English and Spanish) for local book club meetings[13]. Multiple copies of the title and discussion notes are included.[13] The library system also offers a Speakers Bureau, where library staff will visit civic organizations, homeowners associations and volunteer groups to give presentations on the services and opportunities available at the library.

Each library offers many different forms of media such as books, comics, DVDs, CDs, magazines, newspapers, digital eBooks, audiobooks and many other options. Electronic and digital items can be located and downloaded from associated programs such as CloudLibrary and hoopla.

The Palm Beach County Library System provides a number of special services, of which include: Government Research Service[14], Genealogy Research Service[15], Consumer Health Information Service[16] and CreationStations[17]. Government Research Services entails research, information, and document delivery services to government clients, staff, and elected officials in Palm Beach County. The GRS Collection includes legal documents, government serials, professional journals, and local and state collections. The Genealogy Research Service provides access to family history sources including biographical books, genealogy Internet links, genealogy programs, how-to book listings, local city directories, local historical sites, newspapers, and journals. The Consumer Health Information Service offers health and medical information to residents of Palm Beach County.

On October 1, 2019, the Palm Beach County Library System stopped charging late fees.[18] The Palm Beach County Library System is one of many library systems in the United States to remove fines[19] after several studies[20] showed that fines have actually discouraged people to return to the library which often disproportionally affects low income families.

The library system has seventeen branches located throughout Palm Beach County:[21]

• Main Library in West Palm Beach
• Acreage Branch in Loxahatchee
• Belle Glade Branch in Belle Glade[22]
• Canyon Branch in Boynton Beach, set to open in 2024[23]
• Clarence E. Anthony Branch in South Bay
• Gardens Branch (formerly North County Regional) in Palm Beach Gardens
• Glades Road Branch (formerly South County Regional) in Boca Raton
• Greenacres Branch in Greenacres
• Hagen Ranch Road Branch in Delray Beach
• Jupiter Branch in Jupiter
• Lantana Road Branch in Lantana
• Loula V. York Branch in Pahokee
• Okeechobee Boulevard Branch in West Palm Beach
• Royal Palm Beach Branch in Royal Palm Beach
• Tequesta Branch in Tequesta
• Wellington Branch in Wellington
• West Boca Branch in Boca Raton
• West Boynton Branch in Boynton Beach

The Palm Beach County Bookmobile offers a selection of books. Including fiction and nonfiction in regular and large-print. Bookmobile staff help patrons with finding books and research questions. The Bookmobile stops at various Palm Beach County locations each week.[24]

The Palm Beach County Library System takes a large percentage of its funding, roughly 85.2% as of 2016, from ad valorem property taxes collected by the county. This renders it less dependent upon outside grants (2.3% of funding as of 2016).[25] It also receives support from a Friends of the Library organization[26], founded by Ingrid A. Eckler. An annual scholarship named after Eckler assists county library staff pursuing education in Library and Information Science.[27]

The Palm Beach County Library Association is a professional organization that advocates for and supports libraries, librarians, and their advancement.[28] It hosts a variety of events and fundraisers and supports the professional development of librarians and library science students with Professional Development Awards. Membership is not exclusive; it is open to students, librarians at all levels and areas, and supporters of libraries.

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