Editing Chicago Public Library (section)

==History==
[[File:Book Room in the Old Water Tank, Chicago, 1873.jpg|thumb|left|The original library, inside the old water tower on the site that is now the [[Rookery Building]].]]
[[File:Old Water Tank, exterior view, c1870.jpg|thumb|left|This former water tower was the site of the original public library, exterior view]]
In the aftermath of the 1871 [[Great Chicago Fire]], [[London]]er A.H. Burgess, with the aid of [[Thomas Hughes]], drew up what would be called the "English Book Donation", which proposed that England should provide a free library to the burnt-out city. The Chicago Public Library was created directly from the ashes of the great Chicago Fire. Burgess wrote on December 7, 1871 in ''[[The Daily News (UK)|The Daily News]]'' that "I propose that England should present a Free Library to Chicago, to remain there as a mark of sympathy now, and a keepsake and a token of true brotherly kindness forever{{nbsp}}..."<ref>''Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science'' (Vol. 5). Ed. [[Allen Kent]]. CRC Press, 1970.</ref>

After circulating requests for donations throughout English society, the project donated 8,000 books. Private donors included [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Queen Victoria]], [[Benjamin Disraeli]], [[Alfred Lord Tennyson]], [[Robert Browning]], [[John Stuart Mill]], [[John Ruskin]], and [[Matthew Arnold]].<ref>"[http://www.chipublib.org/aboutcpl/history/index.php Library History, 1870–1899] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080314133640/http://www.chipublib.org/aboutcpl/history/index.php |date=2008-03-14 }}." Chicago Public Library.</ref>

In Chicago, town leaders petitioned [[Mayor of Chicago|Mayor]] [[Joseph Medill]] to hold a meeting and establish the library. The meeting led to the ''Illinois Library Act of 1872'', which allowed [[Illinois]] cities to establish tax-supported libraries. In April 1872, the Chicago City Council passed an ordinance establishing the Chicago Public Library. In the rebuilding section of the city, on January 1, 1873, the Chicago Public Library officially opened its doors in an abandoned iron water tank at LaSalle and Adams Streets. The collection included 3,157 volumes. The water tank was {{convert|58|ft|m}} in diameter, {{convert|21|ft|m}} high and with a {{convert|30|ft|m|adj=on}} foundation. A two-story office building was soon built around it to hold city offices, and a third floor reading room was built for the library.

On October 24, 1873, [[William Frederick Poole]] was elected the first head librarian by the library's board of directors. Poole was mainly concerned during his tenure on building the circulation. In 1874, circulation services began with 13,000 out of 17,533 available for lending. The library moved from place to place during its first 24 years. Eleven years it spent on the fourth floor of city hall. In 1887, Poole resigned to organize the private, research [[Newberry Library]] of Chicago.

On October 15, 1887, Frederick H. Hild was elected the second Librarian of the Chicago Public Library and securing a permanent home was his primary drive. Ten years later, the Central Library was opened. Designed by the Boston firm of [[Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge]] in the same academic classical style as their building for the [[Art Institute of Chicago]], it is located on Michigan Avenue between Washington Street and Randolph Street on land donated by the [[Grand Army of the Republic]], a Civil War Veterans group led by [[John A. Logan]], a Civil War General and U.S. Senator from Illinois. In return for the land, the Library was to maintain a Civil War collection and exhibit in a G.A.R. room until the last northern Civil War veteran died. The library would remain on this site for the next 96 years. The building is now the [[Chicago Cultural Center]].

[[Henry Eduard Legler]] assumed the leadership of the Chicago Public Library on October 11, 1909. Previously a Wisconsin Progressive, he was well known as an aggressive advocate of the expansion of library service. In 1916, Legler presented his "Library Plan for the Whole City", the first comprehensive branch library system in the nation. A landmark in library history, the plan called for an extensive network of neighborhood library locations throughout Chicago. The goal of the plan was to bring "library service within the walking distance of home for every person in Chicago who can read or wants to use books."
Legler was succeeded by his assistant [[Carl B. Roden]] in 1918. Roden served as Chief Librarian until 1950. The South Chicago Branch library history from 1937-1947 has been explored by Latham who focused on its service to an industrial community and adult education.<ref>Latham, J. M. (2011). Memorial Day to Memorial Library: The South Chicago Branch Library as cultural terrain, 1937–1947. ''Libraries & the Cultural Record,'' 46(3): 321–342.</ref> She has also examined the role of the John Toman Branch library from 1927-1940.<ref>Latham, J. M. (2013). "A liberal and dignified approach": The John Toman Branch of the Chicago Public Library and the making of Americans, 1927–1940. In, L. Robbins & C. Pawley (Eds.), ''Libraries and the Reading Public'' (pp. 111–128). Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.</ref>
[[Image:20061028 Blackstone Library Front.JPG|right|thumb|The [[Blackstone Library]] built in 1904 is one of the oldest library buildings in the city and the CPL's first branch library]]
Roden was succeeded in 1951 by Chief Librarian Gertrude E. Gscheidle. During her tenure the Library expanded its service to Chicago's neighborhoods by modernizing its bookmobile services.
In the 1960s several new neighborhood branch libraries were constructed or were established in leased storefronts or reading rooms.

The two-story, {{convert|62000|sqft|m2|adj=on}} modernist [[Carter G. Woodson Regional Library]], named after the "Father of Modern Black Historiography," opened its doors in December 1975, to serve as the South Side. A decade later, Chicago Public Library replaced its north side regional library when the post-modernist Conrad Sulzer Regional Library opened to the public in late 1985. The Woodson regional branch library features the [[Vivian G. Harsh]] Research Collection, one of the largest repositories of African-American archival information in the Midwest. It holds the papers of many notable Chicagoans, such as [[John H. Sengstacke]], [[Robert S. Abbott]], [[Doris E. Saunders]], Timuel Black, Rev. [[Addie L. Wyatt]], and numerous others.

The class politics of urban public librarianship through "outreach" efforts during the federal [[War on Poverty]] uses the Chicago Public Library as a case study during the 1970s under director Alex Ladenson.<ref>Wheeler, Jeff. 2021. "'How Much Is Not Enough?': Public Library Outreach to 'Disadvantaged' Communities in the War on Poverty." ''Library Quarterly'' 91 (2): 190–208.</ref>

In 1974, the board of directors authorized an $11&nbsp;million renovation of the Central Library. While the restoration of the original central library proved a great success, the collections remained warehoused outside the old library while the City debated the status of the future of the central library. One plan was to move the library to the former Rothchild/Goldblatts Department Store which stood empty on Chicago's State Street and had reverted to City ownership.

From 1982 to 1985, [[Amanda Sullivan Randle Rudd]] rose to become the first [[African-American]] to head of the Chicago Public Library system. Rudd had experienced [[Racial segregation in the United States|segregated libraries]] during her childhood in South Carolina. Her stewardship in Chicago saw a particular focus on literacy services, and she strongly mentored younger colleagues, including a future Librarian of Congress, [[Carla Hayden]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/obituaries/ct-amanda-rudd-obituary-20170219-story.html |title=Amanda Rudd, historic head of Chicago Public Library, dies at 93 |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |last=Megan |first=Graydon |date=February 21, 2017 |access-date=December 8, 2018 }}</ref>

The ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' editorial board and Cindy Pritzker, then President of the Library Board, launched a grassroots campaign to build a new state-of-the-art central library. On July 29, 1987, Mayor [[Harold Washington]] and the [[Chicago City Council]] authorized a design and construction competition for a new, one-and-a-half block $144&nbsp;million library at 400 South State Street.