San Diego Public Library

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This library serves the city of San Diego. For the library serving the county, see San Diego County Library.

The San Diego Public Library is a public library system serving the city of San Diego.

1 Early History
2 Services
3 Trivia
4 External links

[edit] Early History

The San Diego Public Library was established on May 19, 1882, by an elected board of library trustees. The first location was rented space in the Commercial Bank building at Fifth and G streets, and the new library opened its doors to the public for the first time on July 15, 1882. In 1902, the library moved to Eighth and E streets where a new Carnegie Library was constructed. In 1952, the Carnegie Library was demolished and a new Central Library was opened at the same location on June 27, 1954. Over the years, many branch libraries have also been opened throughout the City.

[edit] Services

The San Diego Public Library system currently consists of the Central Library, 34 branch libraries, an adult literacy program office (READ/San Diego), and a special outlet facility (Environmental Services Library).

Library cards are free to applicants who reside within the state of California or own property in the city of San Diego, and to men and women serving in the armed forces who are stationed within San Diego County. Library cards are permanent and must be renewed every two years. There is a $30 annual fee for a non-resident library card.

The San Diego Public Library was one of the first large systems in the United States to offer free wireless Internet at all its locations.

In fiscal year 2005, the Library system had a circulation of more than 7.2 million and more than 6.4 million visits by patrons. [1] The San Diego Public Library was one of the first major library systems in the United States to offer free wireless Internet access at all of its locations, including the Central Library and 34 branch libraries.

[edit] Trivia

While testing the Spirit of St. Louis airplane in San Diego, Charles Lindbergh used the resources at the San Diego Public Library to plot the course for his historic solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean.