The Cleveland Public Library was founded in 1869 and is located in Cleveland, Ohio. Its mission is "to be the best urban library system in the country by providing access to the worldwide information that people and organizations need in a timely, convenient, and equitable manner." To that end, the Cleveland Public Library maintains its Main Building on Superior Avenue in downtown Cleveland and 28 branches throughout the city.
The Main Building actually consists of two buildings, connected by an underground corridor that lies below a reading garden that is situated between the two. (The reading garden was designed by Maya Lin.) The older of the two buildings was completed in 1925 and was renovated during 1997 to 1999. The second building, named after former U.S. Congressman Louis Stokes, was dedicated in 1997.
The Main Building contains a number of special collections, including the Mears and Murdock baseball collections, the Cleveland Theater collection, the John G. White chess and checkers collection, a 130,000-volume children's collection, a 74,000-volume rare book collection, and collection of 1.3 million photographs. As of 2002, the Main Building had annual attendance of 804,692, annual circulation of 1,698,928 items, and a collection totaling 9,745,655 items.
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Last updated: 08-24-2005 22:31:26
