Everett Public Library
| Established | June 10, 1894 |
|---|---|
| Location | Everett, Washington |
| Branches | 2 |
| Collection | |
| Size | 226,932 volumes |
| Access and use | |
| Circulation | 930,710 |
| Population served | 91,000 |
| Other information | |
| Director | Board of Library Trustees |
| Staff | 43 |
| Website | Everett Public Library |
The Everett Public Library (EPL) serves the residents of Everett, Washington. EPL operates a main library at 2702 Hoyt Avenue and the Evergreen branch, at 9512 Evergreen Way. The main library overlooks Puget Sound and the southern end of Whidbey Island. The library has noteworthy artworks, including works by Dudley Pratt, Ransom Patrick, Guy Anderson, Jack Gunter, and Sonja Blomdahl. The library circulates over 900,000 items per year, provides exceptional book and media collections, reference services, on-line resources, in-home library services, and programs for adults, children and families. The library’s staff includes specialists in adult reference, children’s books, local history and career information. The Everett Public Library introduced a bookmobile service in May 1924; the first of its kind in Washington state, and the second in the West. It is also one of the few public library systems in the United States that has two full-time historians on staff, David Dilgard and Melinda Van Wingen. Historian Margaret Riddle retired after 31 years. They have produced one of the most robust digital local history collections ever produced by a public library.
The town of Everett had incorporated, then shortly afterward its growth was halted by the Panic of 1893. The Everett Public Library was created on June 10, 1894 by the Everett Women's Book Club. On that day a group of local women met in the home of Mary Lincoln Brown to form the Book Club that would have as its aim the "improvement of the mind through the study of literature", but more specifically, the establishment of a public library.
The initial collection of 1,000 books was donated by members of women's clubs across the country. Gathering books and petitioning City Council when funds were scarce, the Everett Women’s Book Club set up a temporary library in the home of a member, and in 1898 the city offered them three rooms in City Hall, and service began. The Club continued to work for permanent quarters, next moving to a small building, and in 1905 the Everett Public Library became a Carnegie library after it received a $25,000 Carnegie grant to design an official library for the city of Everett.
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