Queens Library
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| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Established | 1896 |
| Location | Queens (New York City) |
| Coordinates | 40°42′28″N 073°47′42″W / 40.70778°N 73.79500°WCoordinates: 40°42′28″N 073°47′42″W / 40.70778°N 73.79500°W |
| Branches | 62 |
| Collection | |
| Size | 7.5 million items |
| Access and use | |
| Circulation | 15,700,000 in FY 14 |
| Population served | 2,270,338 (Queens) |
| Members | nearly 929,000 active borrowers in FY 14 |
| Other information | |
| Budget | $128,147,000 (FY 13) |
| Website | www |
The Queens Library (QL), also known as the Queens Borough Public Library, is the public library for the Borough of Queens and one of three library systems serving New York City. It is one of the largest library systems in the world by circulation, having loaned 13.5 million items in the 2015 fiscal year. It was named “2009 Library of the Year” by Library Journal. According to its website, the library holds about 7.5 million items, of which 1.4 million are at its central library in Jamaica, Queens.
Dating back to the foundation of the first Queens library in Flushing in 1858, QL has become one of the largest public library systems in the United States, comprising some 62 branches throughout the borough. It has high annual circulation, and is one of the largest libraries in the country in terms of the size of its collection. QL serves Queens' population of almost 2.3 million, including one of the largest immigrant populations in the country. Consequently, a large percentage of QL's collections are in non-English languages, particularly Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Russian. QL is separate both from the New York Public Library, which covers Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island, and the Brooklyn Public Library, which only covers Brooklyn.
The first library in Queens was founded in 1858 in Flushing as a subscription service. It became a free circulation library in 1869.
In the late 19th century, several local libraries were founded in western Queens. The libraries in Astoria, Long Island City and Steinway formed the Long Island City Public Library in 1896, becoming Queens' first multi-branch library.
In 1901, shortly after the consolidation of Queens into New York City, the city government proposed a new charter joining all libraries in Queens into the Queens Borough Public Library. All of the public libraries signed on, except for Flushing, which remained independent until 1903.
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