Headquarters of the Ponce Public Library in Barrio San Antón, Ponce, Puerto Rico
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Country | Puerto Rico |
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Type | Public library |
Established | 1870 |
Location | Boulevard Miguel Pou, Barrio San Antón, Ponce, Puerto Rico |
Branches |
7 |
Collection | |
Size | 3,000 books + 60,000+ periodicals |
Access and use | |
Population served | 166,327 |
Other information | |
Budget | $500,000 |
Director | Ms. Jo Arleen Torres Hernández |
Staff | 39 |
Website | http://bibliotecaponce.wordpress.com/ |
References: Las Fiestas Populares de Ponce. Ramon Marin. |
Coordinates: 18°00′44″N 66°36′12″W / 18.01223°N 66.60339°W
7
Within the city:
Clausells (Guillermo Jackson) at Victoria & Villa Madrid
Jaime L. Drew (Jose Rodriguez Ayala) at Urb. Jaime L. Drew
Playa (Rafaela Prieto Library) at Avenida Hostos Final
Outside the city:
Coto Laurel at Los Santos and PR-14, Llanos del Sur
Guaraguao (Old Head Start building) on PR-516
Magueyes (Rosario La Torre) at PR-123, Km. 15.8
The Ponce Municipal Library, formally, Biblioteca Municipal Mariana Suárez de Longo (English: Mariana Suárez de Longo Municipal Library), and also known as Biblioteca Publica de Ponce (English: Ponce Public Library), is the library system of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Founded in 1870, it is the oldest public library in Puerto Rico. The system has its main library on Miguel Pou Boulevard, in barrio San Antón, in the city of Ponce, and seven satellite library branches, three in the city's urban area and four spread out in the municipality's rural of Ponce. In August 2007, a new facility, designed specifically as a library, was inaugurated on Bulevar Miguel Pou. Unusual for public libraries, it does not have any type of book loan service available to the public.
The origins of the Ponce Municipal Library date to the establishment in Ponce of the "Gabinete de Lectura" in 1869-1870, founded by Alejandro Tapia y Rivera. The Gabinete de Lectura was the first educational, cultural, and scientific center in Ponce. The Gabinete was established in 1870 by Federico Perez, Antonio Molina, Jr., Diego Vicente Texeira, Rafael Rodriguez, Luis R. Velazquez, Angel Aguerrevera, and Eduardo Neumann Gandía, and was located on Calle Sol. The central government in San Juan closed it down in 1874 out of fear that the common people would become educated and rebel against the government. However, it was reopened in 1876 by a group of people that included some of its original founders plus Dr. Rafael Pujals, Oscar Schuck, Alfredo Casals, Antonio Molina, Ramon Rivera, Jacobo Tur, Sergio Cuevas Zequeira, Juan Cuevas Aboy, Oriol Pasarell, Fancisco Oliver, Manuel Mayoral Barnes, and Manuel Yordan.