Indianapolis Public Library
The Indianapolis Public Library is the public library system serving the citizens of Marion County, Indiana, United States and its largest city, Indianapolis. The library was founded in 1873 and has grown to include a Central Library building, located adjacent to the Indiana World War Memorial Plaza, and 23 branch libraries spread throughout the county. The library attracts over four million visitors each year and circulates nearly 16 million items.
Central Library
The Central Library building was designed by architect Paul Philippe Cret and completed in 1917.In 2001 the Indianapolis-based architectural firm of Woollen, Molzan and Partners was commissioned to renovate the historic building. The planned $100 million project also included replacing a five-story addition with a new, six-story curved-glass and steel facility and atrium that connected to the Cret building. Construction problems caused construction to be temporarily halted in 2004; however, the renovated Central Library and its new atrium addition opened on December 9, 2007, ending the controversial, multi-year construction project, which cost $150 million.
Indianapolis Special Collections Room
The Central Library also houses the Nina Mason Pulliam Indianapolis Special Collections Room containing a variety of archival adult and children's materials, both fiction and nonfiction books by local authors, photographs, scrapbooks, typescripts, manuscripts, autographed editions, letters, newspapers, magazines, and realia. The collection features Kurt Vonnegut, May Wright Sewall, the Woollen family, James Whitcomb Riley, and Booth Tarkington.Branches
Besides the Central Library, The Indianapolis Public Library also operates twenty-three branch libraries and provides bookmobile services. In April 2016, the boards of the Indianapolis and the Beech Grove public libraries voted to merge, with the Beech Grove library becoming the 23rd branch library of the Indianapolis library system on June 1, 2016.In 2014 the library board received approval from the Indianapolis City-County Council to begin issuing $58.5 million in bonds to renovate and relocate existing branches and construct new ones., the Southport, East Washington, and Warren branches had been renovated, with renovations at the Wayne and Lawrence branches scheduled for 2019 and 2021, respectively. The Eagle branch will be relocated to 3905 Moller Road in 2019, the Brightwood branch will be relocated to 25th Street and Sherman Drive, and the Glendale branch to a new location in 2022. Groundbreaking for a new branch at 6201 Michigan Road was held on November 3, 2017, with completion expected in 2018. New branches in Perry Township and in Lawrence will open in 2019 and 2020.
Branch Name | Year Est. | Street address |
Beech Grove Branch | 1951 | 1102 Main Street, Beech Grove |
Brightwood Branch | 1901 | 2435 N. Sherman Drive |
College Avenue Branch | 1924 | 4180 N. College Avenue |
Decatur Branch | 1967 | 5301 Kentucky Avenue |
Eagle Branch | 1960 | 3325 Lowry Road |
East 38th Street Branch | 1957 | 5420 E. 38th Street |
East Washington Branch | 1911 | 2822 E. Washington Street |
Flanner House Branch | 1967 | 2424 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Street |
Fountain Square Branch | 1896 | 1066 Virginia Avenue |
Franklin Road Branch | 1969 | 5550 S. Franklin Road |
Garfield Park Branch | 1918 | 2502 Shelby Street |
Glendale Branch | 1930 | Glendale Town Center 6101 N. Keystone Avenue |
Haughville Branch | 1896 | 2121 W. Michigan Street |
InfoZone Branch | 2000 | 3000 N. Meridian Street Inside The Children's Museum of Indianapolis |
Irvington Branch | 1903 | 5625 E.Washington Street |
Lawrence Branch | 1967 | 7898 N. Hague Road |
Nora Branch | 1971 | 8625 Guilford Avenue |
Pike Branch | 1967 | 6525 Zionsville Road |
Southport Branch | 1967 | 2630 E. Stop 11 Road |
Spades Park Branch | 1912 | 1801 Nowland Avenue |
Warren Branch | 1974 | 9701 E. 21st Street |
Wayne Branch | 1969 | 198 S. Girls School Road |
West Indianapolis Branch | 1897 | 1216 S. Kappes Street |