Ann Arbor District Library

The Ann Arbor District Library (AADL) is a public library system that serves the residents of Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Downtown Library, located at 343 South Fifth Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104, was dedicated in 1957 and had building additions in 1974 and 1991. AADL also includes four branch libraries: Malletts Creek, Traverwood, Pittsfield and Westgate. The library system holds over 490,000 materials – books, DVDs, compact discs, magazines, audio books and other formats – most of which are equipped with RFID tags. More than 1.5 million people came through the doors of the AADL system in 2011-12, and circulation of library materials topped 8.5 million. In 1997, the Library was named “National Library of the Year” by Library Journal, the first library in Michigan to receive the honor.

All trustees are elected at large from the District. The Library District is the same as the Ann Arbor School District. Terms are four years long beginning July 1 of the year they are elected.

Officers are elected by the Board at the Annual Board Meeting in July. Officers serve for a one-year term and for no more than two consecutive years in the same office. Board members as of June 2014^[update] are:

The vision of branch libraries for the Ann Arbor District Library system began with former Library Director Homer Chance. Recognizing the need for access to materials and facilities beyond the Downtown Library, Chance opened the first branch library in Ann Arbor, the Loving Branch, in 1965. In 1977, the West Branch (now called "Westgate") opened its doors. The Northeast Branch began serving the community in 1981.

Expansion continued in 2004 with the opening of the Malletts Creek Branch as a replacement for the Loving Branch. This branch is a unique model of sustainable design featuring solar heating, natural day lighting, a vegetated green roof, convection cooling, naturally captured and filtered storm water, native plants and grasses, and many uses of materials that are renewable resources. The Malletts Creek Branch was awarded the 2005 American Institute of Architects Michigan (AIA Michigan) Award for Sustainable Design.

In 2006, AADL opened the Pittsfield Branch, a community-based learning center serving the residents of the southwest quadrant of Ann Arbor and Pittsfield Township. This branch, along with its surrounding landscape, capitalizes on environmental principles, allowing the overall project to operate more in harmony with the ecosystem and the community in which it serves. AADL opened the Traverwood Branch in June, 2008, to serve the residents of the northeast quadrant of Ann Arbor. Sustainable design features of this branch include an innovative stormwater manage system and the reuse of harvested ash tree from the building site.

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