|
from Cossondra During the COVID lockdown of early 2020, I think most of us tried finding things to fill our time. Maybe you attempted to learn new skills, binged a television series, or got addicted to social media. One of the best things I did was get an online Mobile Public Library Card. With this golden ticket, I could open doors to ebooks, audiobooks, movies, and music collections just by using my phone. I love the library. It is a place for everyone. Whatever your race or religion or socioeconomic position, it’s a place for you. And now, through technology, much of the catalog is available to the the homebound, visually impaired, and people like me who live 75 miles away from the main branch. I stopped by that main branch, the Ben May Main Library, Downtown, a few days ago to update my information. I was impressed by their services, and I was also intrigued by the large, stately building. According to the library’s Fall 2021 Newsletter, this main branch of the Mobile Public Library was opened in September 1928, but Government Street wasn’t its original location. Alabama’s Legislature allowed for cities to establish public libraries in 1901. Although they had no grand building, the Mobile Public Library Association wouldn’t be deterred. They purchased a private home at the corners of Conti and Hamilton Streets and opened a reading room. Mobile had a library.
Although access for everyone was important, in the early 1900s, black citizens were not allowed in the public libraries because the state had passed segregationist laws. So, a library was opened for black citizens in the early 1930s. In 1961, all Mobile Public libraries were integrated, becoming the first public library system in Alabama to do so. Even though people in rural areas were still underserved, the Library Association continued to open branches around the county to increase access. They started running a Bookmobile in 1951, taking the library to communities all across Mobile County. See? The library is for everyone, and I admire the lengths this system has gone through to provide that access throughout the years.
|
