Editing Cleveland Public Library (section)

==History==
=== Founding ===

In 1811, the idea behind the Cleveland Public Library came "out of small beginnings" when sixteen of Cleveland's sixty-four residents subscribed to its first library, established to distribute the rare printed book.  The members read books such as the history of Rome, ''[[Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets|Lives of the English Poets]]'', Goldsmith's ''Greece'', and ''[[Don Quixote]]''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Open Shelves and Open Minds: A History of the Cleveland Public Library|url=https://archive.org/details/openshelvesopenm0000cram|url-access=registration|last=Cramer|first=C.H.|publisher=Press of Case Western Reserve University|year=1972|location=Cleveland, OH|isbn=9780829502190}}</ref>
[[File:CPL Interior 2023.jpg|thumb|Main Branch Interior Hall]]
In 1867, the [[Cleveland Board of Education|Cleveland]], [[Cincinnati Board of Education|Cincinnati]], and [[Dayton Board of Education|Dayton]] Boards of Education petitioned the [[Ohio General Assembly]] for authority to levy a tax for the maintenance of free public libraries, permitting boards of education with populations over 20,000 to levy a tax of one-tenth of a mill for each dollar evaluation of their taxable property.  Cleveland Superintendent [[Anson Smyth]], who has been called the "father of the Cleveland Public Library," supported this law in his Superintendent position, helping in the laws' development.<ref>[https://cplorg.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p4014coll10/id/8/ Anson Smyth, D.D.], Cleveland Public Digital Library, Collection Portraits, Cleveland, Ohio, Accessed March 15, 2024</ref><ref name=":0" />{{rp|18}}

The new law provided for a Cleveland library that was part of the school system, controlled by the [[Cleveland Board of Education]] throughout the first decade of the library's existence, except for the years 1871–1873.<ref name=":0" />
[[File:Cleveland Public Library main branch stairwell.png|thumb|upright=0.9|Stairwell in main branch]]
The Cleveland Public Library opened on February 17, 1869, on the third floor of the Northup and Harrington Block on West Superior Avenue,  The library room was adjacent to the Cleveland Board of Education, and opened with approximately 5,800 books.<ref name=":0" />

Luther Melville Oviatt was the first librarian at Cleveland Public Library from 1869 to 1875.  During his first year, patrons borrowed 65,000 books. Forwarding thinking in his views, Oviatt wanted to provide books that would interest both children and adults, the mechanic, businessman, and scholar. He had open shelves because, "without a catalog, the only way potential borrowers could ascertain what books were available was to look at them." Oviatt resigned in June, 1875, the victim of governing boards or their subsidiaries, who micromanaged daily operations of the library.<ref name=":0" />

Librarian [[William Howard Brett]] opened the library's first stand-alone children's room on February 22, 1898.<ref name="Cleveland Public Library Image Collections">Cleveland Public Library, Digital Gallery (n.d.). Retrieved May 24, 2009 from [https://archive.today/20120222222503/http://cplorg.cdmhost.com/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/p4014coll13&CISOPTR=173&COSOBOX=1&REC3].</ref> [[Effie Louise Power]] was appointed Cleveland's first children's librarian.

In 1916, the Cleveland architectural firm of [[Walker and Weeks]] won a competition to design a new library building.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The New Cleveland Public Library : May the sixth : 1925.|publisher=Cleveland: The library|year=1925|pages=3}}</ref>  Construction of their classical Renaissance design, delayed by the First World War, began in 1923 under [[Linda Anne Eastman]]. Eastman (1867–1963) was the first woman to head a major U.S. city library system and a pioneer in the modern library system. She opened bookshelves to patrons, replacing the [[New York Public Library]] system in which a librarian fetched the books.

===Recent history<span class="anchor" id="Recent History"></span>===

In 2002, the Cleveland Public Library had annual attendance of 804,692 and an annual circulation of 1,698,928 items. In 2020, the library's collection totaled 13,167,127 items.<ref>{{cite web|title=2020 CPL Annual Report|url=https://cpl.org/wp-content/uploads/annualreport-2020-final.pdf|publisher=Cleveland Public Library|access-date=31 December 2020|archive-date=23 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211123194254/https://cpl.org/wp-content/uploads/annualreport-2020-final.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The Cleveland Public Library is a member of [[CLEVNET]], a consortium of 44 public libraries throughout northern Ohio. In 1947, it became a depository library for the United Nations Library network, holding documents for the state of Ohio. There are only 400 UN depository libraries worldwide.

In 2002, Northern Ohio library patrons had access to download digital books and periodicals through a new e-book system headquartered at Cleveland Public Library.  The Clevnet consortium of libraries entered in a $50,000 setup-free agreement with the Cleveland-based company [[OverDrive, Inc.|OverDrive]] to allow patrons to download text from e-books to their personal computer.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Cleveland PL Debuts New E-Book Loan Program|journal=American Libraries|volume=34|pages=22|via=MasterFILE Premier Access}}</ref>

In 2012, the library released a strategic plan focusing on communities of learning and preparing for its 150th anniversary in 2019.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cpl150.org/about/strategic-plan/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150516032649/http://www.cpl150.org/about/strategic-plan |archive-date=2015-05-16 |title=CPL Strategic Plan {{!}} CPL150}}</ref>

Cleveland Public Library launched Tech Central on June 14, 2012, featuring a computer lab with 90 computers, tables encouraging collaboration, a 3D printer, and a MyCloud service. This $1 million launch was funded primarily through the library's existing budgets, in which the MyCloud service was partially funded through corporate partners.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Good|first=T.|title=Three Makerspace Models that Work|journal=American Libraries|volume=44|pages=45–47|via=Masterfile Premier}}</ref>

Cleveland Public Library, along with three other Ohio Libraries (Columbus, Toledo, and Cincinnati), opened digitization hubs, with $1 million in funding dispersed among them, funded by Ohio Public Library Information Network and the Library Services Technology Act.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://oplin.org/ohiodigihubs/|title=Ohio Digitization Hubs Project|website=oplin.org|language=en|access-date=2018-08-21|archive-date=2018-08-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180829072041/http://oplin.org/ohiodigihubs/|url-status=live}}</ref>  The digitization hub at Cleveland Public Library was named the Cleveland Digital Public Library and debuted February 14, 2015.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.infodocket.com/2015/02/14/ohio-grand-openingribbon-cutting-of-cleveland-digital-public-library-taking-place-today/|title=Ohio: Grand Opening of Cleveland Digital Public Library (ClevDPL) Taking Place Today|work=LJ infoDOCKET|access-date=2018-08-21|language=en-US|archive-date=2018-08-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180821223407/https://www.infodocket.com/2015/02/14/ohio-grand-openingribbon-cutting-of-cleveland-digital-public-library-taking-place-today/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Thomas |first=Felton Jr. |title=2017 Report to the Community |date=April 19, 2018 |publisher=Cleveland Public Library |url=https://issuu.com/clevelandpubliclibrary/docs/cpl_annualreport_2017__issuu?e=32524867/60379476 |access-date=April 24, 2022 |archive-date=July 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705110821/https://issuu.com/clevelandpubliclibrary/docs/cpl_annualreport_2017__issuu?e=32524867/60379476 |url-status=live }}</ref> As stated by Chatham Ewing, Cleveland Public Library's Digital Strategist, "It's a way for us to strike up some partnerships with local organizations that have historical objects they are interested in stewarding and digitizing."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.freshwatercleveland.com/devnews/cledigitalpubliclibrary101514.aspx|title=Cleveland Digital Public Library will offer High-tech Scanning for the Masses|last=O'Brien|first=Erin|date=October 15, 2014|website=FreshWater|access-date=June 20, 2018|archive-date=June 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620232658/http://www.freshwatercleveland.com/devnews/cledigitalpubliclibrary101514.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2018, Cleveland Public Library was designated an official Digital Access Partner with the [[Federal Depository Library Program]] for its digitized multi-volume set of the [[First United States Army]] Report of Operations during World War II.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fdlp.gov/news-and-events/3566-cleveland-public-library-partners-with-gpo-to-provide-access-to-world-war-ii-army-operations-reports |title=Cleveland Public Library Partners with GPO to Provide Access to World War II Army Operations Reports |date=13 August 2018 |website=Federal Depository Library Program |access-date=16 August 2018 |archive-date=13 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180813204543/https://www.fdlp.gov/news-and-events/3566-cleveland-public-library-partners-with-gpo-to-provide-access-to-world-war-ii-army-operations-reports |url-status=live }}</ref>

Cleveland Public Library celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2019.  Events included a street festival, puppet exhibit, and a Writers and Readers author event.  [[Cleveland Print Room]] partnered with Cleveland Public Library to present photographers chronicling Cleveland through the lens of its communities and [[Ideastream]] presented audio stories of Clevelanders.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://clevelandmagazine.com/cleader/community/articles/celebrating-150-years-of-cpl-success|title=Celebrating 150 Years of Cleveland Success|last=Troy|first=Terry|date=May 1, 2019|website=Cleveland Magazine}}</ref>

===Revitalization===
In 2019, the library announced it was undertaking a decade-long $100 million revitalization project to redevelop all 27 branches. The project began with a $4.1 million renovation of the South Branch, which transformed the 1911 Gothic Revival structure into "...a light-filled jewel box." After finishing all the branch work, CPL will then begin a $65 million rehabilitation of the downtown Main Library. Phase I-A of the plan, affecting six branches, is scheduled for completion in 2024.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Litt |first1=Stephen |title=Cleveland Public Library to kick off 10-year, $100M project to improve 27 neighborhood branches |url=https://www.cleveland.com/news/2019/08/cleveland-public-library-to-kick-off-10-year-100m-project-to-improve-27-neighborhood-branches.html |website=Cleveland.com |publisher=AdvanceOhio |location=Cleveland OH |date=25 August 2019 |access-date=28 May 2020 |archive-date=5 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200305074354/https://www.cleveland.com/news/2019/08/cleveland-public-library-to-kick-off-10-year-100m-project-to-improve-27-neighborhood-branches.html |url-status=live }}</ref>