Milwaukee Public Library

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Milwaukee Public Library

Location	814 W. Wisconsin Ave. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Established	1878
Number of branches	13
Collection size	2,828,429 (2007)
Population served	602,782
Director	Paula Kiely
Website	http://www.mpl.org/

Milwaukee Central Library

Milwaukee Public Library(MPL) is a public library system in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It consists of a Central Library and 12 branches, all of which are part of the Milwaukee County Federated Library System. MPL is the largest public library system in Wisconsin.^[1]

[edit] Mission

The Milwaukee Public Library is committed to providing the best in library service to the diverse community of Milwaukee in order to meet their informational, recreational and educational needs. To achieve this goal, MPL offers various resource formats and services to meet the community's needs, including public access to computers, information databases, the Internet and the World Wide Web.

[edit] History

The Milwaukee Public Library officially began in 1878 when the State Legislature authorized the City to establish a public library. However, the library can trace its lineage back to 1847 when the Young Men's Association started a subscription library which collected dues from its members. The group rented space for its library in a number of locations over the years and expanded into sponsoring a lecture series with such important speakers as Horace Mann, Horace Greeley and Ralph Waldo Emerson. When the official library was established in 1878, it took over the association's rented quarters and the group's collection of 10,000 volumes, many of them in German. After several moves and several fires, the library moved into a new, block-long limestone building at what is now 814 W. Wisconsin Ave. ^[2] The library opened on Oct. 3, 1898. It shared the building with the Milwaukee Public Museum until the museum completed the move to its own building on West Wells Street in the mid-1960s. In 1957, an addition to the Central Library building was opened on the Wells Street side. It includes four fireproof levels of shelving below ground level. Over the years the library system expanded by establishing book depositories at several locations, including grocery stores, then eventually in rented store buildings. June 16, 1910, the South Division branch was opened in its own impressive building at what is now 931 W. Madison St. In the 1960s the library system began a program to replace the storefront libraries and the outdated South Division branch and build new large branch buildings throughout the city. Today there are 12 neighborhood libraries (branches) each of which serves a population of about 50,000.^[3] The most recently built brach library is the Washington Park Library, which officially opened on April 12, 2003.

[edit] Central Library

The Central Library is the headquarters library for the Milwaukee Public Library System as well as for the Milwaukee County Federated Library System. Today, the Central Library occupies almost the entire building with 4 exceptions, Wisconsin Architectural Archive whose primary purpose is to enhance public understanding of Wisconsin architecture and to help preserve our unique architectural heritage; the headquarters for the Milwaukee County Federated Library System, the Wisconsin Regional Library for the Blind and Physically Handicappedand Volunteer Services for the Visually Handicapped.

[edit] Central's Architecture

A national competition was held to pick a design for a building to house both the public library and the public museum. Seventy-four entries were received, including an entry from Frank Lloyd Wright. The winning design was submitted by Ferry & Clas of Milwaukee. The winning design was for a building one block long and designed in a combination of French and Italian renaissance styles known as Neo-renaissance. The building was designed in a U-shape to provide a common entrance for the library and museum but to keep the facilities separate. Construction costs for the monumental building, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, were $780,000. In the entrance to the library, mosaic tile floors were hand-laid by master Italian craftsmen who had settled in Milwaukee. Tessera, the small squarish pieces of colored marble or tile, were used in the making of the mosaic floors in the Central Library entrance and in the Art, Music & Recreation Dept. The tessera in the entrance floor are smaller than normal allowing for a more detailed design. Some of the materials used in the interior are yellow Sienna marble, brass and stained glass (lighting fixtures), hardwoods such as oak and mahogany, and scagliola (used for the pillars). The trim on top of the wainscoting in the corridor is called “egg and dart.” It is replicated in renovated areas throughout the library. The bay leaf garland design found above the doors in the corridor is actually made of painted plaster, not carved wood.^[4]

[edit] The Old Board Room and Corridor

The Old Board Room is adjacent to the former office of the City Librarian – which had a prime location on the Wisconsin Ave. side of the building. The Old Board Room appears much as it did when the building opened in 1898, with the exception of the ceiling lighting fixture, which was installed at a later date. The furniture is hand carved of maple. The local firm of Ferry & Clas not only designed the building, but the firm produced plans for all the furniture and equipment that went into the building. The room was the site of J. Edgar Hoover's office in the TV movie Dillinger starring Mark Harmon.

[edit] Art, Music and Recreation

The renovation of the Art, Music & Recreation Dept. was completed in October 1999. At the entrance to the department is mosaic floor titled “Unswept Room” by the artist Steven Ferren. The corridor leading to the room features gallery space. Currently exhibited are the paintings of the late Schomer Lichtner and the late Ruth Grotenrath.

[edit] Children's Room

The Betty Brinn Children's Room was named at the request of an anonymous donor in memory of Elizabeth A. Brinn, a Milwaukee businesswoman and entrepreneur. The room was dedicated on June 8, 1998 (after moving from the second floor into space previously used by Discovery World Museum). The floor of navy blue German linoleum was designed by Lois Ehlert. Thirty-one different animal shapes in a variety of colors greet visitors and reappear throughout the room to highlight other areas of interest. The navy blue of the window seat cushions match the floor and are trimmed in the colors of the animals. The Hans Christian Andersen window was designed by Marie Herndl and was completed in 1896. The window hung in the original children's library at Central. The window was restored by Conrad Schmidt Studios for the new children’s room.

[edit] Collections

[edit] Art, Music & Recreation

The Art, Music and Recreation Department contains all of the reference books in the subjects of fine arts, such as painting and sculpture, architecture, art objects and antiques, movies, theater, television, photography, music, sports, recreation, costume, general bibliographies, folklore and UFO’s. The department has a large collection of popular sheet music reaching back to the turn of the century as well as indexes to song books in the library’s collection. A few song sheets go back as far as the 1850s, well before the Civil War. The Art, Music and Recreation Department subscribes to catalogs for the auctions held by two major auction houses - Sotheby’s in London and Christie's in New York. Patrons have the ability to research collectibles in this department. A large collection of identification and price guides on all types of collectibles, such as toys, porcelain, coins, comics, furniture, dolls, glass and others, is available in a separate reference area for patrons to browse through and study. Another of the resources of this department is a poster collection. Posters are available to groups for special displays.

[edit] Children’s

The Central Library Children's room houses our collection of popular children's books, as well as the Children's Popular Literature collection, which are samples of books from 1850 to 1950. The room also has listening stations, the McBeath theater for programs, films, stories and puppet shows and the Herzfeld Activity Center outfitted with state-of-the-art technology for presentations, computer training and library instruction as well as arts and crafts and other library programs. There are 30 computers in the room equipped with programs to support reading, creative writing, math, science, geography and other academic assignments.

[edit] Humanities

Librarians at the Humanities Desk provide patrons with reference assistance in the areas of religion, philosophy, psychology, education, law, the military and government, language and literature, travel, history, biography, genealogy and the social sciences. Staff and volunteers all work to acquire, process, organize, retrieve, copy and preserve materials in these subject areas. Many of the materials are on open shelves to enhance patron browsing and self-service, but all of the materials here are for reference use in the library. They may not be checked out but may be photocopied or photographed. Some materials are only accessible through the staff. These include microfilm and microfiche, historical photographs and pamphlets, manuscripts, maps, and fragile texts which are stored in adjacent areas. Special features of the collection are: Local History Collection, Genealogy Collection, Great Lakes Marine Collection, Historical Photographs, Milwaukee Road Archives, and the Wisconsin Architectural Archives.

[edit] Periodicals

The librarian at the Periodicals Desk can help patrons access information found in magazines and newspapers using online indexes such as EBSCO, General Business File, and indexes to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. This department also contains indexes published in paper format such as Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature and the Education Index. The librarian can also assist patrons with finding consumer information, vehicle valuation, stock prices, tax forms, lottery results and directories of publications. The Milwaukee Public Library is a regional depository library for publications of the federal government. Each year the library is sent thousands of documents at no charge for the purpose of making them available to the public. The librarian can assist patrons in identifying and locating these publications.

[edit] Richard E. and Lucile Krug Rare Books Room

This area consists of two spaces—a reception/program area and an environmentally controlled stack area. The room is named after long time (1941-1975) City Librarian Richard Krug, who established the first rare books room in the late 1950s and whose widow, Lucile, generously donated toward the construction and furnishing of this room, which was dedicated in 2001. Access to the stacks is restricted to staff. The Art, Music & Recreation staff will retrieve volumes for readers who may examine them at a table behind the Art desk. Highlights of the collection--developed through trust funds and donations (not tax money), or books taken from our MPL collection as it ages include:

A complete set of John James Audubon's Birds of America
The library’s oldest printed book, Johannes Nider’s “Praeceptorium Divinae Legis” of 1479, deals with the Ten Commandments. It is bound in wood and has 15th-16th century student notes written in some of the margins.
Other incunabula, the “Hypnerotomachia Poliphili” or Strife of Love in a Dream, printed in Venice by the famous Aldine Press in 1499, considered to be the most beautiful book of the Renaissance.
The 60 pound Autograph Book, containing 2,283 autographs and appended sayings or drawings of leading politicians, artists, musicians and intellectuals from turn of the century (c. 1898) America.
“Voices of Friends”—a 1913 hand illuminated and lettered manuscript by Milwaukee artist Susan Frackelton and her daughter, commissioned by Elizabeth Plankinton in honor of her father, prominent 19th century businessman John Plankinton. It took three years for her to complete.
Autographed letters from Dickens, Beethoven, Liszt, Bismarck, Solomon Juneau, Billy Mitchell.
19th century and earlier colorplate books on ornithology, botany, Native Americans, fashion.
Examples of artists’ books, foredge paintings, private presses such as Kelmscott, Doves, and Ashendene—which produced beautiful hand made books around 1900.

[edit] Business & Technology

Librarians in the Business & Technology area are available to assist patrons in finding information on the pure sciences, health and medicine, technology, businesses, and business information, patents, trademarks, statistics, census materials, industry standards, and military specifications. Milwaukee Public Library is a Patent Depository Library and houses U.S. patents from 1792 up to the present. Also in this department are the resources to conduct patent searches. These patents and trademarks are available in various formats: print, microfilm cassette, CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs

[edit] Services

[edit] Bookseller

Volunteers sort and price the donated and discarded books for sale here. This shop earns money for the benefit of the library. The Bookseller moved to this location in 1996.

[edit] Computer Classes

Milwaukee Public Library, with sponsorship from Northwestern Mutual Foundation, offers free, two-hour, hands-on classes covering the basics of using the computer, the internet , word processing, email, spreadsheets and PowerPoint.

[edit] Information Services

The Information Desk is staffed with librarians to provide the in-house patron with a point of access to the library’s resources and services and to provide short answers to reference requests from all subject areas

[edit] Ready Reference

Ready Reference is a main access point for telephone patrons. Patrons with factual reference questions and CountyCat availability questions can find answers through this service. Callers are limited to one question per call, and it must be answerable within three to five minutes. Eighty percent of calls are answered during the five-minute limit. Ready Reference currently answers approximately 600-700 calls everyday and approximately 3,600 calls every week. Calls that are too complex or time-consuming to be answered by Ready Reference are transferred to the appropriate Subject Desk. The librarians at these desks have access to more specialized materials than are available at Ready Reference, and the librarians can also spend more time with patrons.

[edit] Virtual Reference

Through Ask?Away, librarians from all over the United States are available whenever you need information -- 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The free service will connect you to an experienced librarian who has the knowledge and tools to find the information you need. The librarian you'll chat with may be from another library, but they will be able to help you with resources at your library. They can also forward your question to your local library as needed. If you need help from your local librarian right away, you might be best served by visiting or calling them; find your library's phone number and address at the Wisconsin Library Directory.

[edit] Branches

[edit] References

^ According to ALA Fact Sheet No. 22 http://www.ala.org/ala/alalibrary/libraryfactsheet/alalibraryfactsheet22.cfm
^ Still, Bayrd.(1948). Milwaukee: The History of a City. Madison: The State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
^ Kamps, Mary. (1993). The Wonders Within: The Milwaukee Public Library. Reiman Publications.
^ Kamps, Mary. (1993). The Wonders Within: The Milwaukee Public Library. Reiman Publications.

[edit] External links

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