A Celebration of Library Week
Come, be inspired by the story of one young woman who credits librarians for making it possible for her to graduate from Harvard. In 1990 when she was eleven, Brooke Ellison was struck by a car on her way home from school. The accident left her dependent on a ventilator and paralyzed below the neck. Her mother left her teaching job to make sure Brooke could continue to be enrolled in the public school system. Jean went with her daughter to school every day from 8th grade through high school. When Brooke was accepted at Harvard, Jean followed her to Cambridge.
Brooke says that books and libraries of all kinds have played an enormous role in her education, as well as her recreation, throughout the years. She loves literature and has relied heavily on it as a source of enjoyment. She says, ‘’From ordering books on tape to photocopying class material, libraries and librarians have helped make my education possible. And this has continued until now. I often visit my local library to take out books and videos.’’
Support for libraries goes back many years in Ohio and in Tiffin. The earliest libraries in Ohio can be traced back to 1796 when Ohio was still a territory. The first library in Ohio was established by Colonel Israel Putnam who wanted to share his private library. He established the Belpre Farmers Library. A company of shareholders paid ten dollars for the privilege of using the library. This ‘’public’’ library was like the ‘’ public’’ schools of that day, which were open to anyone who could afford the fee.
In 1853 the legislature established tax-supported schools. Then in 1869, the legislature authorized city governments to open and maintain free libraries and reading rooms. These were usually supported by city or county taxes on real estate. The depression caused a crisis in local funding. The legislature placed a cap on the amount of millage that could be collected. In many counties this meant that many libraries closed or struggled to keep open with volunteer help.
Finally, in 1933, State Senator Robert A Taft introduced a bill that provided that any library that offered free services could have its expenses taken out of the county’s intangibles tax. This tax varied greatly from county to county. Libraries continued to be supported by this tax until 1985 when the legislature set aside under law 5.7% of state personal income tax collections. It also provided a formula that furnished more money to the poorest libraries and equalized state funding. Some county libraries receive no revenue other than that the state provides. The libraries have had their funding from the state frozen for the last two years and in this time of lower income tax collection, dollars from the state have shrunk even further. The Tiffin- Seneca Public Library relies on the state tax revenue for approximately 95% of its funding.
The history of our Tiffin library begins with the formation of the Tiffin Library Association in 1866. By 1880 there was enough public support to establish a library on the second floor of the Market House, which also housed old City Hall. Our library in Tiffin owes much to Andrew Carnegie who believed that libraries were as essential to the development of citizens as public schools. In 1911 Miss Louisa K. Fast, an assistant librarian, went with Judge Bunn to New York City to receive a grant from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation to build a library. That building, which is now houses the Probate and Juvenile Court, was completed in 1913. The grant was for $25,000 and stipulated that the city should support the library each year with an amount equal to one-tenth of the grant.
The present library was built in 1976 and the Frost-Kalnow Room, the children’s department and the technical support room were built in 1987. As any one who visits the library can see, all parts of the building are used extensively.
Among its users are new immigrants seeking to learn English, students on track of school assignments, job-seekers learning to write an acceptable resume, people who just want a good read, and people of all ages who want to learn more about using computers. Libraries are great equalizers of opportunity. Poor people can take out books for their children, use videos without a charge, check the newspapers for job opportunities, research both the quality and the price of purchases they have to make, and take compact discs or talking books home.
Some people have said that access to the internet will mean that libraries are less necessary than they have been in the past. However, our library creates a public space where the citizens of Tiffin can meet their friends, share ideas, and meet in discussion groups. Nowhere else can people find free access to the internet, and use the research possibilities of the Ohio Public Libraries’ Information Network.
I want to thank Susan Lareau and Connie Cole, reference librarians at the Tiffin Seneca Public Library and Nancy Rubenstein at the reference desk of the Heidelberg Library for their help in researching this article.
– Mary