Philadelphia Free Library
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| Established | 1891 |
|---|---|
| Location | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Branches | 54 |
| Collection | |
| Items collected | Automobile Reference Collection Chamber Music Collection Children's Literature Research Collection Drinker Choral Music Library Early American Children's Books Edwin A. Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Music Map Collection Print and Picture Collection (largest in the U.S.A) Rare Book Collections Sheet Music Collection Theatre Collection |
| Size | 4,240,304 |
| Access and use | |
| Population served | 1,560,297 |
| Other information | |
| Budget | $47,903,751 |
| Director | Siobhan A. Reardon |
| Website | http://www.freelibrary.org/ |
Coordinates: 39°57′34″N 75°10′16″W / 39.9595°N 75.1710°W
The Free Library of Philadelphia is the public library system that serves Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the 13th-largest public library system in the United States. Unique among public libraries in the United States, it is neither a city agency nor a nonprofit organization; instead, it is governed by both an independent city agency managed by its own board of directors and a separate nonprofit organization, The Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation.
In fiscal year 2015, the Free Library hosted nearly six million patrons in person and ten million more online.
The Free Library of Philadelphia was chartered in 1891 as "a general library which shall be free to all", through efforts led by Dr. William Pepper, who secured initial funding through a $225,000 bequest from his wealthy uncle, George S. Pepper. However, several libraries claimed the bequest, and only after the courts decided the money was intended to found a new public library did the Free Library finally open in March 1894. Its first location was three cramped rooms in City Hall. On February 11, 1895, the library was moved to the old Concert Hall at 1217-1221 Chestnut Street. Library officials criticized their new home as "an entirely unsuitable building, where its work is done in unsafe, unsanitary and overcrowded quarters, temporary make-shifts". In December 1, 1910, the Library was moved again, to the northeast corner of 13th and Locust Streets. Today, the Free Library of Philadelphia system is composed of 61 locations including Parkway Central Library, three regional libraries, 49 neighborhood libraries, five community Hot Spots, the Regional Research and Operations Center, and the Rosenbach Museum & Library, which became a subsidiary of the Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation in 2013, retains its own board, and is managed separately from the public library system.
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