Houston Public Library
Houston Public Library is the public library system serving Houston, Texas.
It can trace its founding to the Houston Athaneum in 1854. After a large contribution from Andrew Carnegie it was chartered as the Houston Lyceum and Carnegie Library in 1904. Julia Ideson was named its first librarian. The building constructed as Houston's Central Library in 1926 was later named in her honor.
The name was changed to Houston Public Library in the 1920s.
The library system now consists of 36 branches, plus the Central Library, located Downtown. Central Library, often incorrectly called the "Downtown Library", consists of the Julia Ideson Building and the Jesse H. Jones Building (1976). The Jones Building closed for renovations in April 2006. The Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research, located in the Museum District is also part of the system, under the jurisdiction of the Central Library.
Over the past several years two new branches have been built and many others have been renovated. The newest branch is the John P. McGovern-Stella Link Branch, which opened in January 2005.
Branches
In addition to the Central Library and Clayton Library, there are 36 branches in the library system, all located within the city of Houston.
- Acres Homes Branch Library (Acres Homes)
- Bracewell Branch Library
- Carnegie Branch Library
- Collier Regional Branch Library
- Dixon Branch Library
- Fifth Ward Branch Library (Fifth Ward)
- Flores Branch Library
- Frank Branch Library (Fondren Southwest)
- Freed-Montrose Branch Library (Montrose)
- Heights Branch Library (Houston Heights)
- Henington-Alief Regional Branch Library (Alief)
- Hillendahl Branch Library (Spring Branch)
- Johnson Branch Library (Sunnyside)
- Jungman Branch Library (Uptown)
- Kendall Branch Library (Memorial)
- Lakewood Branch Library
- Looscan Branch Library (River Oaks)
- Mancuso Branch Library
- McCrane-Kashmere Gardens Branch Library (Kashmere Gardens)
- McGovern-Stella Link Branch Library (Braeswood Place)
- Melcher Branch Library
- Meyer Branch Library (Meyerland/Westbury)
- Moody Branch Library
- Oak Forest Branch Library (Oak Forest)
- Park Place Regional Branch Library (Park Place)
- Pleasantville Branch Library (Pleasantville)
- Ring Branch Library (Spring Branch)
- Robinson-Westchase Branch Library (Westchase)
- Scenic Woods Regional Branch Library (Scenic Woods)
- Smith Branch Library (Third Ward)
- Stanaker Branch Library
- Stimley-Blue Ridge Branch Library (Fort Bend Houston)
- Tuttle Branch Library (Denver Harbor)
- Vinson Branch Library
- Walter Branch Library (Sharpstown)
- Young Branch Library (Palm Center, near South Park)
In addition, HPL has a partnership with the Harris County Public Library's Clear Lake City-County Freeman Branch Library in the Clear Lake City community of Houston. The Kingwood Branch in the Kingwood community of Houston is scheduled to become a City-County Branch [[1].
Also, the Parent Resource Library in the Children's Museum of Houston is considered part of the Houston Public Library system; however, its staff are employed by the museum, rather than the City of Houston.