Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Still Lending You The World: The Toledo Lucas County Public Library In The 21st Century, Cade Clem

Honors Projects

This research paper focuses on how the Toledo Lucas County Public Library (TLCPL) has adapted to the 21st century, with an emphasis on the impact of digital materials and the Internet. This paper looks at these changes primarily through three lenses: official policies, services and programs, and internal culture. This paper uses quantitative data to determine if TLCPL has maintained overall growth in areas such as number of cardholders, customer counts, circulation, computer usage, and program attendance. These numbers show that, while not always maintaining growth, TLCPL has adapted quite well to the 21st century, bringing in record high numbers …

A Tale Of Two Libraries: A History Of The Public Library Systems Of Atlanta, Ga And Baltimore, Md And How Libraries Across America Adapt To Their Communities, Gigi Powell

History Undergraduate Honors Theses

Public libraries are a staple American institution, and one that was created to adapt and react to its surrounding communities. Public libraries are unique in their ability to anticipate and fill a community’s needs, as evidenced by their constant evolution to remain relevant and provide up- to-date services to all users. To highlight this evolution, librarians from both the Fulton County Public Library System in Atlanta, GA and the Enoch Pratt Free Library system were interviewed to gauge what the library’s role is in a modern world, in a world newly ravaged by COVID-19, and how that role has evolved …

Transmitting Whiteness: Librarians, Children, And Race, 1900-1930s, Shane Hand

Master's Theses

In the wake of the public library movement in the southern United States during the early twentieth century, local librarians began providing library services for those whom they deemed to be their most valuable resources, children. Representatives of a new profession, children’s librarians campaigned for better tomorrows by collecting good books specifically for young readers while providing safe, comfortable spaces that encouraged an atmosphere of instructive entertainment.

Supplemental to the development of a unique children’s department, library administrators sought strong working relationships with the city’s various public schools. The public cooperative that developed between libraries and schools brought thousands of …