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Cover courtesy 0/ Griswold-Eshleman
Photographs by Frances Kacala. Bemie Rich, Peter Hastings
CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY
FROM THE PRESIDENT
Once again these are times that try men's sauls. In the American crisis of the
1770's, men fought to found 0 new nation dedicated to the proposition that all men
are created equal. "with liberty and justice for all." The 1970's require the
dedication of each of us to make real that dreom.
The outlook is discouraging. The war in Southeast Asia continues, and we continue
to pour into disastrous destruction and death the billions we need to build
this nation. There is little money left after the military budgets to support our
schools, to provide housing, health facilities and full employment for the vast
numbers of people for whom the American dream is unfulfilled, and to permit them
to live in dignity. The institutions of our society are disintegrating, and the
quality of life is diminishing.
It is not surprising that the Cleveland Public Library has been caught up in the
resultant financial crisis facing all service branches of government. Our financial
support from the Ohio Intangibles Tax collections in Cuyahoga County not
only is not sufficient to permit the Library to provide the quality of library service
the people of this community deserve, but even that presently assured source
of financial support is threatened by some tax proposals pending in the State
Legislature. The year ahead will'be a trying one, and we on the Board of Trustees
will do our very best to fight for and obtain adequate funding for this vital community
facility. The community should recognize this as its own challenge and
obi igation, and support the board's efforts.
Courage!
Robert L. Merritt
President. Board of Trustees, /970Cleveland
Public Library
FROM THE DIRECTOR
In 1920 Henry Ford said, "I can tell you one thing. The cities are finished."
He knew that, when his Model T put the population on cheap wheels, the flight
from the cities hod begun.
Urban conditions acrOSs the nation seem to be making a prophet of him. History
tells us that cities have been finished before and that more than a few have become
j j one with Ninevoh and T yre."
As a newcomer to Cleveland I may be seeing with special clarity and feeling
with special sensitivity the symptoms of change which appear around us, both
visibly in physical conditions and impalpably in other ways. We see general
urban conditions having their effect on library approaches throughout the country,
and because Cleveland is the very prototype of a city in transition,the Library is
bending its every effort towards meeting the conditions created by that fact.
There is no single agency which can stop the tide that seems to be flowing fast,
but it would be folly to think for a moment that it could be stopped with'out the
public library and its infinite potential. Like the rest of society, libraries too
are in a state of transition, knowing that they must change, not yet being Sure
exactly how and to what, but concentrating on methods and experimenting with
both materials and techniques that may move them in new directions.
Having been the Director of the Cleveland Public Library for four months of 1970,
and having also become acquainted with its past history, I know that it is among
those libraries which are most aware of the crucial nature of the 1970's and that
it has made efforts to create new services and adjust old ones to the exigencies
of its social environment. The beginnings made in the post are the building
blocks upon which future efforts will rise.
Complicating the entire situation is the whole problem of financial support. At
this particular moment in our .development, when new services prove to be the
most costly services, we find ourselves facing curtai Iment of the funds we so
desperately need. Plans for the future must include the quest for new sources of
fi nonciol support.
"Shut not your doors to me, proud I"ibraries," Walt Whitman wrote for another
time and with another meaning. Not only are Our doors not shut, they are wide
open. More than that, through them the Library is going out, and will go out, to
the people where they are. This is our categorical imperative for the 1970's, and
we are pledged to obey it.
1970 saw the continued broadening of our service ~oncepts and a basic change in
our philosophy of administration. It is appro'priate that all this took place in the
first year of Our second century, a year which is a kind of historic watershed,
not only for the Library, but indeed, for many institutions which face the same
conditions to which we must adjust and to which we will adjust.
Wolter W. Curley
Director
GETTING INTO FOCUS
"The fast pace of change In the inner city and the lack of consensus within institutions
make flexibility essential In library planning as well as in ather kinds
of community service planning."
Ken McGovern, City of Cleveland, Deportment of Community Development
The ghetto youth trying to escape his squalid street, the Puerto Rican family
struggling for security in a seemingly hostile community, the American Indian
mother bewildered and disoriented by the pace of life in a metropolitan area,
these were some of the people who especially concerned the Cleveland Publ i c
Library in 1970.
In a city plagued by all the social and political upheavals common to the contemporary
urban scene, the Library tried to seek out the depressed and displaced
with services attuned to their needs, as well as to function as a vital educational
and informational agency for the increasingly sophisticated, articulate and demanding
publ ic of the '70' s.
Adopting the 100-year-old Cleveland Library System to accommodate both the innovative
experiment for reaching the non-reader in his inner city neighborhood,
and the efficient process for transferring knowledge to the scholar working in a
society built on rapid communication techniques, required a thorough re-evolue·
tion of the function and internal operation of the institution. Trustees, administration
and stoff hod begun to suspect that the great Cleveland Public Library
instead of being the dynamic, responsive community resource of the post, was
threatening to become a cumbersome, inflexible establishment! 1970, the threshold
of the Library's second century, then, become the year for looking inward
and taking stock in order to bring about a needed renaissance.
One attempt at self-evaluation was the Boord-Stoff Retreat: "Scene '70", which
took place April 12-16. A series of meetings and discussions open to the entire
1100.member Library stoff, the Retreat drew upon experts outside of the Library even
outside of the library profession - as speakers and discussion leaders to
cover the rove major subject areas of: urban change, library management systems,
library resources, personnel and cammt.;n icatian s. Recommendation sand sugge stions
which issued from the sessions all revealed a general stoff desire to offer
more bold experimentation, variety and flexibility in library services.
Concurrent with the Retreat, the professional survey of the Library's administrative
and business operations begun in fall 1969 by Booz, Allen and Hamilton,conti
nued. Implementot ion of some recommendation s from the fino I report was begun
toward the end of the year by the new Director. The eventual restructuring of the
entire Library system, based on the Booz, Allen study, should result in a streamlining
of the total Library performance.
Meonwhi Ie, throughout this period of internal reassessment and change, the Cleveland
Public Library continued Its doy-to-doy work of reaching people wherever
they happened to be in need of information, knowledge, inspiration, or recreation
through language via various media - surely not a new public library activity, but
one with intensifying implications and challenges in the 1970'sl
4
Milton S. Byam of St. John's University
opens the Board-Staff Retreat
THE LIBRARY WENT OUT ...
"A modern public library goes half-way to meet the reader, anxious to know his
needs and meet them."
Andre Mouroi 5
"An awareness of the social problems in the community and their obvious connection
with the social structure of the American society must permeate all planning
for improving, expanding and creating library services which offer a valuable
contribution and purposely coincide with other educational and community programs,"
Mrs. Gloria J. Battisti
Cleveland Pub!;c L;brary Trustee, 1969-1970
Fully aware that a library is not solely a place, Cleveland's librarians were committed
as fong as 60 years ago to the concept of "outreach," when a rotating
collection of books from a young Cleveland Public Library was established on
"The Clevelander" fireboat in the Cuyahoga River for ,the leisure-time use of the
crew.
Throughout the years of the Library's first century, its program of reaching out
into the community with books, information and services has had to be constantly
re-defined in the light of prevailing conditions. In 1970, it meant going out to
people wherever they happened to congregate, whether in a neighborhood barber
shop, a day care center, a metropolitan housing apartment building, or at a meeting
of a local area improvement council.
Experimental, federally-funded projects, begun during the mid 1960's to provide
concentrated service to specific groups with unique needs continued to be vital
reinforcements to regular day-to-day service and to the Library's lang-standing
outreach activities such as service to the sick and handicapped in hospitals,
private homes and public institutions. Outreach, in the first year of a new decade
also meant the active seeking of recruits to the profession of librarianship from
minority groups which have not previously received direct encouragement to enter
the professional world.
The Library's grass roots contact with people takes place in the neighborhoods,
close to where Clevelanders live and work, and where, now, old homes are being
demalishe'd to make way for urban renewal and projected highways; where old time
residents are being replaced by newcomers, many of wham have nat had the opportunity
to become readers and library users; where widespread fear for personal
safety keeps citizens from venturing out of their homes in the evening.
During 1970, branch librarians did nat wait for their public to find the library
building, but went aut with information and empathy to work with neighborhood
residents in helping to salve local area problems and improve community conditions.
6
The Librarian of Woodland Branch, for example, served on the King-Kennedy
Housing Complex Managers' Cabinet. She visited 115 family units and 8 senior
citizen apartments in the Complex to get acquainted and give information on the
Library. A Christmas party for King Kennedy golden agers held later at Woodland
Branch drew 42 enthusiastic guests.
Meanwhile, the Glenville Branch librarian was an active member af the Glenville
Area Community Council and the Glenville YWCA Boord of Management; staff at
Mt. Pleasant Branch worked with the Pleasant Gate Businessmen's Assaciation
on safety and other community issues, as well as with the Urban League's neighborhood
office, and with the program planning committee of the Mt. Pleasant Community
Council. An assistant librarian at Brooklyn Branch served as adult adviser
to the Clark-Fulton-Denison Youth Council, while South Branch pravided
teacher book loans for the Clark-Fulton Center's summer tutorial program. Carnegie
West Branch co-sponsored the West Side Branch of the Adult Learning Center,
with the Adult Education Department of the Cleveland Board of Educatian,
West Side Opportunity Center and the Urban Community School. Three branches on
the city's northeast side: Collinwood, Nottingham, and Memorial, cooperated to
produce the "Book Shelf" column weekly in the "Scoop." Collinwood also partticil'ated,
with book displays and talks, in the regular Sunday natianality dinners
sponsored by St. Joseph's Community Relations Counci I. Weekly story hours far
headstart children at churches and other agencies, classroom visits and talks at
orientation days for new teachers in the schools, the use of branch libraries as
job sites for the Neighborhood Youth Corps, book talks for street clubs, the provision
of library materials to local job centers, and a variety of other activities,
in addition to regular services and programs within the 36 branch buildings, were
all part of the Library's attempt to contribute resources and talenttoward improving
the quality of life in urban neighborhoods.
The quality of el<istence for a large segment of the black population in the inner
city, for the approximately 18,000 Spanish-speaking persons, and for the 3,800
American Indians who have settled within the environs of Cleveland, has engaged
the attention of the Library's administration and staff for some time. Dynamic,
effective services for these special groups require finoncing with funds over and
above those available from the Library's regular operating budget, and a series
of grants from the Library Services and Construction Act, received via the State
Library of Ohio since 1965, has made possible several special projects administered
by the Library's Adult Education Department.
Two of these: the Books/Jobs Project and the Afro American History and Culture
Project ended officially on June 30 after two years of work. Funded to provide a
large collection of printed and audio visual materials to help manpower centers,
iob training schools and other agencies working with the unemployed and the
underemployed, Books/Jobs also established a library of 800 volumes at the
Cleveland Police Academy. One of the last major activities of the Afro-American
Project was the presentation of "The Invisible Man in American Culture" an institute
on black expression for librarians, held April 9 and 10. The Institute was
attended by approximately 65 librarians from throughout Ohio ond included workshops
on black poetry, drama, the visual arts, and history; 0 playlet performed by
the Ensemble CompOl I of Karamu House and a panel discussing how the traditionally
white, European-oriented public library can relate to the black man's
experience.
Cleveland Public Library station on the Clevelander, 1905
Mary Laudgrabe, 55th East Branch Librarian
meets with a group at Goodrich-Gannell House
8
With the phasing out of the special funds, the staff and material s of the two projects
have been absorbed into the Library's ongoing operation.
Project Libros, designed to develop better understanding and use of the Library's
resources and services by members of the Spanish-speaking community, received
financing for a third year on July 1.
The program for 1970-71 specified expansion of activitIes to the city of Lorain,
and a Project outpost was established at the Lorain Public Library in the late
summer.
Meanwhile, in Cleveland, Project Libros was established in 29 community centers,
and staff went out into the neighborhoods to provide a free series of fi Ims made
in Puerto Rico; special Sunday afternoon fam i Iy programs; activities and book
collections geared to the residents of housing projects; consultant service and
materia Is for branch libraries in Spanish-speaking sections on both east and west
sides oftown; books for Spanish-speaking children enrolled in the English as a
Second Language program in ten elementary schools as well as those in bilingual
programs at two junior high schools; and a variety of miscellaneous services.
A major accomplishment of Project Libros was the initiation of plans for the first
Puerto Rican Conference ever held in Cleveland. With 250 participants involved
in ten working sessions devoted to education, housing, employment, welfare,youth,
culture, religion, health, law and politics, the Conference proved to be an exciting
beginning in community organi zation for Cleveland's Span ish-speaking
population. Project Libros played a key role with other community agencies in
planning and also in programming for the event, with films, books, recordings
and a deeply involved staff.
During the three years of its existence, Project Libros has become well-known in
the Spanish community and has received strong endorsements for its 1970-71 program
from the various agencies with which it works. Project staff is aware that
the Library's effortisonly a beginning in addressing the whole field of Hispanic
cultural tradition and identity. Nevertheless, during 1970, Libros had begun to
help the adult community to communicate the Spanish heritage, language and arts
to their children growing up in an Anglo society; to help youth to discover their
identity as individuals, as Puertorrequenos and Hispanos; and to helpdisseminate
the strength and pride of the Hispanic tradition to both the Spanish-speaking
and Anglo segments of Cleveland.
Maintaining the identity of the American Indian and fostering a better understanding
of his culture, were the primary concerns of the new Project American Indian.
Funded on July 1, the Project was devised to provide materials on Indian history
and culture; to assist the Cleveland American Indian Center in program planning;
and to help interpret the American Indian to the general public through programs,
exhibits, books, films and other media.
Whi Ie extending experimental programs to meet new needs, the Library continued
to bring information, recreation, inspiration to readers in 28 hospitals and health
and welfare institutions, as well as to 1,271 persons confined at home or in nursing
homes and homes for the aged via the Judd Service to Shut-ins.
Registering for the "Invisible Man" Institute
Mary Springman introduces Books-Jobs
News from home
9
Since its organization 15 years ago, the Cleveland Public Library's Hospital and
Institutions Deportment has become a notional model for public library services
to the sick and handicapped. During 1970, librarians from Toronto, Canada; Wyoming;
Elyria, Akron and Canton in Ohio made inquiries by leller or paid personal
visits to study Cleveland's organization and procedures.
The Braille and Talking Book Service, which includes the Regional Library for
the Blind serving all of Ohio north of Columbus, reported a reader gain of 11%
in 1970. A total of 242,728 books and magazines were circulated in five media:
talking books
braille
magnetic tape
cassettes
large print
In addition, 439 talking book machines and 100 cas selle tape recorders were
issued to readers with sight problems.
Important supportive, auxiliary services to the Library's outreach programs were
the two bookmobiles, the Adult Education Book Service and the School Services
Department.
The "Explorer" and the "Rocket" traveled throughout 1970, making bi-weekly
visits to families who lived beyond easy reach of a branch library.
The Adult Education B~ok Service continued to expand and added twelve new
agencies to make a total of 77 served. 147,723 books were circulated to instructors
at agencies such as: Adult Education Center of the Cleveland Board of Education;
Cedar Family Life Center, Friendly Inn, Manpower Training Center,
Nationalities Services Center, WKYC TV's Special Education course, and The
Urban League Street Academy.
School Services loaned books to:
50 publ ic schoo Is
24 parochial schools
13 suburban schools
26 summer school sessions
7 nurseries
2 child development programs
2 Headstort groups
2 tutorial groups
12 summer camps
1 day camp
2 Urban League street academies
Salvation Army Hough Multipurpose
Center
School Services librarians also porticipated in the orientation program for new
teachers in the Cleveland Public School System in August by showing slides of
Library activities, distributing brochures on Library departments and services,
an,] talking to the individual teachers.
In the midst of daily work with people outside, as well as inside, the walls of the
Library, the staff has been conscious of the need for more professional librarians
from minority groups. An experimental summer internship program to intensify
recruitment efforts was launched in June funded with a $12,000 federal grant
through the State Library of Ohio. Ten college students, representing black, Oriental
and Puerto Rican backgrounds, were employed at the Cleveland and East
Cleveland Public libraries for ten weeks in varied job assignments.
While attacking the simultaneous problems of reorganization, a shriveling budget,
and compelling urban demands, the Cleveland Public Library in 1970 struggled
toward a newer life style: one which sought to rediscover the individual person
with his unique learning and informational needs and thereby to contribute toward
the development of a healthier community.
10
A1ain Library recepllOn lor openzng 01 Hzghland V,ew
Hospital's Arl SludlO Exhzbu
Summer inlerns and chddren Irom branch read,ng clubs ] udd Service in aClion
11
THE PEOPLE CAME IN ...
"Society todoyis learning oriented '"
Eugene Hallman
Canadian Broadcasting System
"The library means a place where you can go and explore and let your mind get
lost and it's also a place where you can go to find new people.
"If it wasn't for the library, I wouldn't have any place to go."
.. from entries in the "What the Library Means to Me"
essay contest for children, 55th-East Bronch Library, March 1970
Bringing people and information together into a dynamic relationship has been the
mandate of the Cleveland Public Library for over 100 years. In 1970, the task
became mOre than ever a dual challenge of maintaining the priceless book- collections,
in-depth research materials and special reader services of the Main Library
downtown, while also providing the variety of media and programs to serve people
in their respective neighborhood branches.
There was something for everyone in the wealth and variety of Main Library's
collections of books, magazines, recordings, films, newspapers, documents, pictures,
pamphlets and other media. Professionol librarians, many of whom are also
subject specialists, explored these resources, helping to translate readers' questions
into answers and their problems into solutions.
Participation in the new Northeast Ohio Library Teletype Network project also
put nine other public and callege libraries in the County in touch with Cleveland's
book collection, and facilitated the flow of informotion among all the cooperating
institutions.
An average day in 1970 brought 2,652 people into the Main Library, or a total of
793,417 for the year. The rise in unemployment in Greater Cleveland may have
added to the noticeably larger number of daytime adult readers and increased requests
for such materials as civil service test manuals, handbooks on preparing
job resumes, and all other types of job information as well as general recreational
readi ng.
Meanwhile, telephone reference questions from those unable to come to the Library
in person increased in number and complexity. The General Reference Department
alone responded to 85,478 phone calls for information, an increase of 5,664
over 1969! Telephone requests numbered 35,504 in the Business Informotion
Department; approximately 18,000 in Government, Education and Social Science;
and about 14,000 in the Science and Technology Department.
12
Cleveland Publ·zc Lzbrary
l3
The specialized collections of the Business Information and the Science and
Technology Departments ai ded bus inessmen and women, investors, industrial i sts,
scientists, nurses, doctors, and patent attorneys. Four issues of their joint Business
and Technology Sources Bulletin were issued: "Hints for the Businessman
Going Abroad", "The Great Lakes Basin," Parts I and II, and "Business Books,
1970." Among the pertinent booklists compiled during the year was Science and
Technology's "Environmental Crisis." published in observance of Crisis in the
Environment Week and Earth Doy. April 22.
Scholars, students. writers and general readers found valuable resources in the
History Department's book collections and in its Cleveland Picture Collection.
The Government, Education and Social Science Department,which might be termed
a "cultural conglomerate... • with its growing and diversified subject fields, had a
busy year working with lawyers, educators, social workers, policemen, civil service
applicants, and readers in search of materials on the history and status of
the black man. G.E.S.S. questions ranged from simple etiquette queries to complex
assignments on foreign policy, economics, women's lib, and political science.
The Department published a booklist on "The Black American," as well as its
annual list of "New Books in Education."
The John G. White Department continued to provide in-depth research material in
over 7,000 languages and dialects for scholars here and abroad. Twenty visitors
from Europe and Canada made pilgrimages to Cleveland's famous collections on
folklore, arientalia and chess in 1970. Use of the Department was not confined to
scholars, however, for computer programmers came to find information on ancient
mathematics; businessmen deciphered invoices from the Orient; others found
ideas and motifs for planning party decorations.
With subject areas ranging from golf and tennis to antiques, sculpture, art history
and music, the Fine Arts Department also served a large, diverse clientele. A
gift from the Kulas Foundation made possible the purchase of quality recording
equipment, implementing the current recording of phonodiscs on cassette tapes,
and the eventual production of a complete set of recordings by the Cleveland
Orchestra.
"Has the question of seniority in matters of employment layoffs in municipal
government ever been adjudicated in Ohio courts?"
"What is the extent of, and degree of success of, Black Capitalism?"
"Does the FCC require the filing of a statement of assets and income of persons
owning orhaving a principal interest in tv stations, radio stations and newspapers?"
Such questions were typical of those tackled by the Municipal Reference Library,
a Main Library division located in the City Hall, and they indicate the special
expertise and knowledge of reference sources required by librarians in the '70's!
In these and in the other six subject departments of the Main Library, reading and
reference requests from people in 1970 were intriguing, unpredictable, sometimes
routine, often impenetrable, but always related to where today's action is and
where tomorrow's is Iikely to be.
14
Help from Fine Arts Department
and the Kulas Foundation
The Library takes to the Mall - Earth Day, April 22. 1970
15
When readers and students were not learning from books in 1970, they could adjourn
to the Main Library's auditorium or to another of several meeting rooms to
absorb knowledge on a variety of topics from one of ,approximately 1,000 regular
or special programs presented for all ages, from movie showings to story hours,
to travel talks, lectures on art and music, welcoming ceremonies for new citizens
and other presentations. Some of these were produced in collaboration with other
commun.ity agencies and organizations, such as the series of three Fortnightly
Musical Club noon hour lecture-demonstrations. Others, like the Christmas vacation
film/story hour programs; the talk on "Art of the Mohammedan World,"
by Dorothy Shepard of the Museum of Art on April 16; "A Dickens Evening,"
December 7; the weekly "Live Long and Like It Library Club" meetings; and the
bi-weekly "One o'Clock Matinee" movies were planned by the Library staff. and
coordinated through the Adult Education Department or the Office of Work with
Children.
Out in the neighborhoods of east and west side Cleveland, each of the 36 branches
offered the same basic pattern of books, information and service, including programs,
as the Main Library downtown, but on a sma ITer scale and geared to the
unique local scene.
At the end of 1970, 58% of Cleveland Public Library card holders were branch
patrons, and almost half of the Library's total book circulation took place within
the branches.
A highlight of the year was the opening of the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional
Branch Library on June 14. Located on East 107th Street bordering the University
Circle, King replaces the old Euclid-l00th Branch and has been designed to hold
an eventual total of 100,000 volumes and the largest reference collection of any
branch in the Cleveland System.
By December 31, 1,081 people had registered at the attractive, comfortable building
overlooking Wade Park, 50% of these residents of the King postal zone and
the remainder from scattered areas within the County.
King Branch quickly became an integral part of the neighborhood, with its meeting
rooms in full use and its programs attracting an enthusiastic response. The
Eucl id-105 Group, Hough Hou se Settlement Board of Directors, Cleveland Board
of Education Teacher Training Project, parents and children from the Salvation
Army's Hough Multi-Service Center, Community Relations Bureau of the Cleveland
Pol ice Department and many others have held meetings at the Branch, some on a
regular bas is.
In addition to story hours for children, the Branch staff also presented a series of
four evening programs as an experiment during the fall. UnderthegenE'rol title
"Cosmorama," they included talks, music, and dancing by representatives of
nationality groups presenting "Reflections of India," "Oriental Montage ,"
"Oceanic," and 'IAn Evening in Russia;"
A provocative daytime program for young adults of junior high and high school age
was presented at King Branch on October 28, when John Neufeld, author of Edgar
Allen, Lisa Bright and Dark and other books talked and led a discussion on racism,
the generation gap and other social issues.
16
Pzerre Boulez and Mrs. F. W. Vanderheide
01 Fortnightly Musical Club
Martin Luther Kine Branch is now open.'
17
Programs and special activities were also employed by other branches as ingenious
attempts to acquaint people with library services and, ultimately, to help
them enjoy better Iives through use of books and oudio vi sua I material s.
Treasure House Branch presented Paula Steichen, author and granddaughter of
Carl Sandburg, as speaker for a group of Hough area teenagers on February 26.
Glenville's program for Negro History Week featured exhibits and a talk on Africa
by Kenneth Banks, civif rights reporter for the Plain Dealer. Eastman Branch's
program on drug abuse, with a speaker from the Cleveland Pol ice Bureau of Narcotics,
drew 180 persons. Popular with young adults was a program on good grooming:
"How to Look Great" at Collinwood Branch. Librarians at Lorain met with
about 150 groups during the year presenting seasonal programs, craft contests,
puppet shows, an Easter egg hunt, the Travelling Zoo.
Altogether, Cleveland's branches reported 7,392 group meetings and programs in
their buildings, with a total attendance of 192,716 in 1970.
Once inside the average branch library, people found not only books but also
magazines, paperbacks, an auxiliary aid such as a photocopying machine and, in
ten branches, phonograph records and listening equipment provided with funds
from the Kulas Foundation.
Reference service in branches assisted students on all levels, housewives, retired
persons, children - people of all ages and backgrounds. The number of ref"
rence questions telephoned in to branches increased, especially in areas where
street safety was a problem.
Emerging from the usual reading and informational requests for detective fiction,
home appliance repair, cookery, care of pets and diet were some notable trends.
There was wide interest in black history, culture and personalities or, as one
branch librarian phrased it; ... "questions about the black man, his problems,
what he has contributed to the American scene." Growing demand for books on
astrology, witchcraft, and the occult in general, was noted in mast communities,
while such current issues as pollution, ecology, abortion, drug addiction were the
urgent concerns of students especially. In the field of fiction, the modern Gothic
romance was the overwhelming people's choice, with science fiction, medical
stories, mysteries, tales of espionage and intrigue following closely in popularity.
The year ended on a positive note with seventeen branches reporting an increase
in adult book circulation. Librarians are well aware, however, that statistics are
never the whole measure of a library's significance.
Senior citizens come into the local library to share with the staff their joys and
sorrows beca use they are lonely. Branch Iibrarians may have a hand in the plans
of a young fami Iy man who unrolls hi s scroll of landscape sketches for his new
hou se and yard on a desk and asks for help in checking botanical with common
names of trees and shrubs. They may provide a sympathetic ear and helpful material
to the worried mother with a retarded child, or find the latest pamphlets an
how to buy food and clothing wisely for the homemaker who must stretch a welfare
check. They are also happy to provide pleasure to an elderly widow as she enjoys
watching the children attending a family Christmas story hour.
For the unemployed, the disabled, the elderly, the disadvantaged, the Library
fills a pressing need; a break in the isolation of their lives, a little companion>
ship and mental stimulation, a place to go and something to do, with no questions
asked, no special requirements to meet.
At the same time, for the student and the scholar, for the learned or just the insatiable
reader, the Library, whether downtown or on a neighborhood street, is the
indi spen sable ingredi ent of Iife. It is as a branch Iibrarian has described it:
" .. a place with no biases, no special view of life - except that thinking isagood
thing to do."
18
Starting young at Martin Luther King Branch
Author John Neufeld makes a /Joint -
19
. . . AND PEOPLE HELPED
The Cleveland Public Library story in 1970 was also an account of dedicated
community friends who recognized the crisis proportions of the Library's budgetary
situation in relation tothe scope of its services and responded with individual
and collective action. The Friends of the Library, the radio, television and newspaper
media, and concerned individuals all joined forces to sustain an essential
community resource.
The total amount of time and the number of financial contributions from the Friends
of the Cleveland Public Library, Inc. cannot be itemized for lack of space,
but some outstanding projects should be mentioned.
In addition to the regular, ongoing program of encouraging memorial gifts to purchase
books and services unavai lable to the Library through tax income,the Friends
followed through on a project, begun during the centennial year of 1969, to
obtain monies for volumes on the "Special Book List." Compiled from notes
submitted by the staff indicating the rare, important and expensive books needed
in each Main Library subject department, the List, representing a total value of
over $80,000, was presented to the Plain Dealer by the Friends with a request
for promotional support. The P/ain Dealer's response was to publish the list as
a free fu II-page adverti sement: "CI eveland's Great Library Needs to be Greater,"
on six separate dates from January through May.
From the initial ad on January 2, Bill Randle, WERE radio personality and a member
of the Friends, developed the idea of airing the book campaign on his daily
show. He dec ided to concentrate on rai sing funds to buy one title: the first edition
(1755) of Dr. Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language in two
volumes. In order to make it possible for a number of Clevelanders to share in
the gift, he asked for a donation of one dollar apiece from interested listeners.
Within a month he had over the required amount, and the book. was in the Library
by February 11.1 Dr. Randle later went on to raise money in the same way for
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, a two-volume facsimile of the Ellesmere folio, then
al so presented the Library with a setof forty volumes on the hi story of women's rights.
In addition to promoting gifts of books and funds, the Friends sponsored the civic
reception for new Library Director, Walter Curley and Mrs. Curley on October 28,
and cooperated with several other organizations in presenting the annual National
Library Week luncheon in April as they have for many years. A total of $7,920
in scholarship grants was also awarded by the Friends to five Library employees
toward the completion of professional degrees in library science.
When the Library received the unexpected budget cut of some $269,000 in the fall,
the Friends of the Library accelerated their usual drive for new membE'rs by enIi
sting the aid of Carr, Liggett Advertising, Inc. whose President is a member of
the Friends, and the Cleveland Press to prepare and run a dramatic one-page
advertisement showing the front entrance of the Main Library bearing a "closed"
sign. Under the caption: "One of the world's great libraries is nothing on Wednesday,"
the ad explained why the great research collections and special services
of the Main Library had to be closed to the public one day a week during
November and December, why book purchases were frozen and other stringent
economy measures enacted tor the balance of the year. The ad, published several
times by the Press, asked readers to join the Friends in order to help the Library
through its financial emergency and included a coupon to be filled out and mailed
in.
By the end of 1970, the Friends' roster had increased by several hundred to make
a total of 1500 individual and group memberships, and plans were underway for
future programs and projects.
Other notable gifts and bequests among the total of 104,943 given by 24,178
donors were the Edgar S. Bowerfind Memorial Fund for books on public relations
established for the Business Information Department and the Kulas Foundation
grant for recording equipment already mentioned.
Throughout the year, the Library also received steady, consistent, and inestimable
support from the local mass media through hundreds of hours of free public service
time on radio and tv stations, as well as editorial comment in the two metropolitan
dailies and in various other newspapers throughout the area.
The Friends of the Library offers individual memberships in the following
categories: Annual: $5
Contributing: $10
Sustaining: $25
Patron: $100
or club and association memberships: $10 or more
and company memberships:
General - $100
Contributing - $500
Sustaining - $1000
All memberships are tax-deductible. Checks should be made out to the
Friends of the Cleveland Public Library, Inc. and mailed to 325 Superior
Avenue 44114
Friends' scholarship winners
with Dr. Fern Long
21
CL V~LAN D9UBLIC LIBRARY SYSTiM
@ Main Library o Neighborhood Branches
USE OF TI IE unR.'\ RY J ) 1970
Borrowers (registered card-holders)
~
.... W""DlANO
Adults
Children
Total
184,538
74,396
258,934
Lihrary materials loaned for home use
22
Main Library
Branches
Bookmobiles
Deposit stations
School services
Hospitals and Institutions
Loans to other libraries
Total
Circulation per capita
Circulation per registered
borrower
794,427
1,971,925
109,263
6,217
819,388
513,187
7,039
4,221,446
4. 81
16. 3
Films loaned
Film bookings
Film showings
Activities
17,313
27,398
Staff talks, story hours and library instruction
for groups in the library 3,321
Total attendance 85,044
Use of Library auditorium and other meeting rooms
by groups 5, 621
Total attendance 177, 811
Attendance at Main Library (both buildings)
Total 793,417
Average daily 2,652 (open 299 days)
BOOK STOCK, 1970
Adult
Juvenile
Total
2,496,168
758,831
3,254,999
FINANCES FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1970
General Fund
Receipts
Balance January 1, 1970
Intangible personal property tax
Fines and reimbursements
State aid for Library services to the blind
Miscellaneous
Non-revenue receipts
$867,650.49
7,200,141. 38
122,317.72
70,955.00
31,538.66
1,570,880.68
Total receipts
Expenditures
Administration (other than salaries)
Salaries, retirement, insurance
Library service materials
Transportation
Operation of Library
Maintenance of Library
Capital outlay
General fund debt service
Total expenditures
Balance December 31, 1970
$ 9,863,483.93
$200,834.37
6,184,180.61
701,072.59
8,745.15
359,473.09
100,559.74
56,345.38
1,516,173.92
$9,127,384.85
$ 736, 099. 08
23
24
Other funds
Permanent improvement fund
Building and repair fund
Federal Library Services
and Construction Act funds
Special funds
Gift and endowment funds*
Total
* includes investment in securities
$518.51
54,830.62
47,397.53
7,887.24
442,855.59
$553,489.49
CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY
325 Superior Avenue (Main Library/two buildings)
Cleveland, Ohio 44114
(216) 241-1020
Main Library hours - 9 a. m. - 8:30 p. m. Monday - Friday
9 a. m. - 6: 00 p. m. Saturday
BOARD OF LIBRARY TRUSTEES
1970
President Arthur B. Heard (through January, 1970)
Robert L. Merritt - February, 1970-
Vice President Robert L. Merritt (through January, 1970)
Murray M. Davidson - February, 1970-
Secretary John N. Gardner
Mrs. Gloria J. Battisti
Thomas J. Kiousis Jr.
Stanley J. Klonowski
George J. Livingston
Neil R. O'Malley
Dr. Martin R. Sutler
(through October 6, 1970)
(appointed April, 1970)
(through January, 1970)
(appointed November, 1970)
(appointed March, 1970)
ADMINlSTRATION
1970
Director: Edward A. D'Alessandro (through January 29, 1970)
Dr. Fern Long, Acting Director (January 29 - September 7, 1970)
Walter W. Curley (September 8, 1970- )
Deputy Director:
Assistant Deputy Director:
Assistant to the Director in
Charge of Main Library:
Assistant to the Director in
Charge of Branches:
Dr. Fern Long (January; September 8 Miss
Clara E. LucioH
Mrs. VareHa Farmer
Miss Adeline Corrigan
FRIENDS OF THE CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY, INC. 1970
President:
Vice President:
Secretary:
Treasurer:
Peter Reed
Ralph M. Besse
Dr. Fern Long
Robert E. Arnold
