Baltimore County Public Library (BCPL) is a public library system located in central Maryland and headquartered in Towson, MarylandMaryland State Archives, Baltimore County, Maryland: Public Library, September 29, 2015. Established in 1948, BCPL serves Baltimore County, Maryland, which surrounds but does not include the city of Baltimore.Baltimore City is served by the Enoch Pratt Free Library. Occasionally the two library systems share resources and expertise.Mary Gill Hare, "Pratt and Balto Co. libraries to share nearly $1 million bequest," The Baltimore Sun, July 8, 2011.
BCPL operates 19 branch locations and 4 bookmobiles, with the two largest branches at Cockeysville and Towson.Explore Baltimore Heritage Team, "North Point Branch – Baltimore County Public Library", April 5, 2016
BCPL offers a wide variety of services, with its branches offering a collection of current, high-demand print and non-print items, including books on compact discs, DVDs, and video games, as well as access to online research databases, downloadable audiobooks, and ebooks.The Baltimore Sun, "Towson to help library system debut 'cloud' service for e-Books," August 30, 2012.Phyllis Brill, "Where to find information on AIDS for children," The Baltimore Sun, November 12, 1991.The Baltimore Sun, "Books on looks," February 20, 1991. All branches provide public computer access, are Wi-Fi accessible, and offer free programs and activities for all ages.Alison Knezevich, "Balto. Co. libraries' summer reading program breaks record," The Baltimore Sun, September 4, 2012.
History
1940s to 1970s In 1948, the BCPL system was established by combining twelve independent libraries into one system. The current branches in Reistertown, Sparrows Point, founded with space provided by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, Towson, and Relay, opened before 1936, with all the others opening sometime after 1940.Lynn Wheeler, "Baltimore County Public Library's Early History," 1948. Material for this webpage derives from "The Public Library, Baltimore County, Maryland, Annual Report, 1948." This new library system had a board of trustees to consolidate these 12 independent libraries.These libraries were located in Arbutus-Halethorpe, Catonsville and its Banneker High School branch, Cockeysville, Dundalk and its Turner Station branch, Essex, Middle River, Pikesville, Relay, Sparrows Point, and Towson. By October of the same year, an administrative office had opened, at its temporary location sitting on Towson's 120 West Pennsylvania Avenue and a county librarian, Richard D. Minnich, was appointed. The following year, the Cockeysville Branch of the BCPL had moved to a space in the "former Zink residence" which was a "small house located near the Cockeysville School" and sitting on York Road.BCPL, "Cockeysville Branch, History: About This Branch," October 25, 2016.
By the 1950s, the BCPL system began to change. The Arbutus Branch of the BCPL moved itself into a larger space above an A&P supermarket, just like the branch in Pikesville, while the Parkville community, until 1952, continued to host an independent library which eventually moved to the basement of Saint Ursula's Church.BCPL, "Arbutus Branch, History: About This Branch," December 15, 2016.BCPL, "Parkville-Carney Branch, History: About This Branch," January 23, 2017.BCPL, "Pikesville Branch, History: About This Branch," March 17, 2017. When the Parkville Library closed its doors, the BCPL started to provide library services to the community using a bookmobile.
In 1961, the Parkville Branch opened at rented quarters, the Cockeysville Branch opened in a 3,000 square feet building, and the Reistertown branch, which occupies a building dating back to the 1820s when it was Franklin Academy, was created.BCPL, "Reisterstown Branch, History: About This Branch," December 20, 2016. In the following years there were more improvements. For one, in 1962, the Arbutus Branch moved to a "more modern building" on Sulphur Spring Road, and the year after that, the current Catonsville Branch was dedicated on what was formerly the site of Castle Thunder, home of English businessman Richard Caton and Polly Carroll," the latter who was the daughter of Charles Carroll, a signer of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.BCPL, "Catonsville Branch, History: About This Branch," October 5, 2016. The same year, the original Perry Hall Branch opened on Belair Road.BCPL, "Perry Hall Branch, History: About This Branch," March 21, 2017.Shelley Silwick, "Perry Hall library celebrates 50 years in the books," The Baltimore Sun, September 9, 2013. Many years later, in January 1968, the Cockeysville Branch "was expanded...to an 11,000 square foot facility."
In the 1970s, the BCPL system again expanded. In January 1971, the Parkville-Carney Branch opened at its current location, renamed from the Parkville Branch after "an appeal by residents of Carney to show that both communities were served by the facility. Years later, in May 1974, the current structure which comprises the Towson Branch was constructed, which is in a brutalist style.BCPL, "Towson Branch, History: About This Branch," December 9, 2016.Loni Ingram, "Towson Library celebrates 40 years at current site on May 17," The Baltimore Sun, May 15, 2014.
The BCPL System in the 1980s and 1990s In the 1980s the library system again changed with the times. In February 1982, the Cockeyville Branch opened at its current location, being one "of the first libraries in the nation featuring open-face bookstore display shelving and neon signage." In the same year, the Pikesville Branch opened on the Pikesville Community Center's first level, a building which currently "houses a senior center and a health center" as well. The following year, the PTA of Hereford High School initiated the idea for a library in the Northern part of Baltimore County.BCPL, "Hereford Branch, History: About This Branch," February 24, 2017. In later years, the Towson Branch would be recognized for its accomplishments. In 1985, the Baltimore City Paper would give the branch the "Best Library award" and the year after that the County Executive would recognize the branch for its "outstanding contributions" to the community. Two years later, in 1988, the Hereford Branch opened "on the first floor of the Hereford Center building" with Dennis Rasmussen, then County Executive and Dutch Ruppersberger, then a County Councilman, cutting the ribbon to open the facility. The same year the White Marsh Branch opened in "15,000 square-foot" facility, which is within the current White Marsh Town Center.BCPL, "White Marsh Branch, History: About This Branch," March 21, 2017.
In the 1990s, there were further changes. The Towson Branch was expanded in 1990, becoming a "landmark building in the heart of Towson." The same year all branches of the BCPL were closed for Staff Day.The Baltimore Sun, "Staff Day to close county's libraries," October 3, 1990. In later years, the Reisterstown Branch was renovated, in 1995 with an expanded "parking lot and a 1,800 square foot addition," and the Heidelbach Memorial Garden, in the Catonsville Branch, was dedicated after a push by the Catonsville Garden Club.In the Heidelbach Memorial Garden, "each panel depicts a scene from a children's literature classic and was created by the students of Hillcrest, Maiden Choice, Catonsville Middle, Saint Mark's, Westowne, Saint Agnes, Saint Paul, and Delrey schools."
The BCPL System in the 21st century In the 2000s numerous BCPL branches were expanded. In 2001 the Towson Branch added a "medieval castle with arched windows, turrets and a majestic entrance" in the children's area of the library to, hopefully, "make more families decide to spend their together time at the library rather than at a mall."Lynn Anderson, "Reading in a fantasy world," The Baltimore Sun, May 13, 2001. The following year, the Hereford Branch expanded "to 7,500 square feet" and extended operating hours 2006, with the Pikeville Branch expanded with a "$3.6 million expansion and renovation" and re-opened in July 2007. In 2009, the existing Perry Hall Branch "was replaced by the current 25,000 square foot green building" which currently sits on Honeygo Boulevard and the Cockeysville Branch was renovated.
In 2010, the Perry Hall Branch added a reading garden which includes "benches, sculptures...a picturesque view of the small nearby pond" and a walkway that is "made of recycled materials from the renovation of the North Point Branch plaza" the same year. Also that year, the Arbutus Branch moved to a new $11 million "library, community center and senior center" on Sulphur Spring Road, which is a 25,000 square foot space and is a certified LEED silver building. The following year, in 2011, The Baltimore Sun reported that an FBI agent, Kyra M. Dressler, "asked a federal judge to sign search warrants for computers and hard drives in the Baltimore County Public Library's branches in Woodlawn and Catonsville," where a Nicaraguan-born man named Antonio Martinez, who they suspected of being a "terrorist," had reportedly used the library's public computers.Nick Madigan, "Man accused in Catonsville bomb plot urged holy war, feds say," The Baltimore Sun, February 10, 2011. The article adds that FBI agents watched him, as he "pulled up jihadist videos on computers in Baltimore County libraries," accessing "the Internet about 481 times at county libraries, and remained logged on an average of one to two hours". At one point he lost access to the library computers because he had failed to pay a $10.50 fine, but regained access by using his stepfather's library card. The same year "a $30 million, six-story building" which houses the Owings Mills Branch and the "center for the Community College of Baltimore County" began to be constructed, and was completed in 2013.Raven L. Hill, "Start of Owings Mills development raises hopes," The Baltimore Sun, July 28, 2011.
In 2013, the BCPL recorded "nearly 5 million in-person visits, circulated nearly 10.6 million items, set a record of over 48,400 participants in our Summer Reading Club, and added nearly 20,000 new cardholders" in the previous years.James H. Fish, "Balto. Co. library is more vibrant than ever," The Baltimore Sun, April 23, 2013. The writer is director of the Baltimore County Public Library.Similarly, the Towson Branch "chalked up 475,495 visits" and was described by the Baltimore Sun as "one of the busiest branches in the BCPL system." The following year, the Hubert V. Simmons Museum of Negro Leagues Baseball was established at the new Owings Mills Branch, opened only the year before, a free museum which is "open during all library operating hours" and has exhibits and historical displays of "Maryland and U.S. Negro Leagues."BCPL, Owings Mills Branch, 2017.BCPL, "Community: The Hubert V. Simmons Museum of Negro Leagues Baseball," February 18, 2016.Jim Joyner, "County library at Owings Mills' Metro Centre slated to open March 21," The Baltimore Sun, March 11, 2013.The Baltimore Sun, "Opening day at Hubert V. Simmons Museum of Negro Leagues Baseball in Owings Mills," March 27, 2014.Arthur Hirsch, "Negro Leagues museum to play bigger crowds in Baltimore County," The Baltimore Sun, November 20, 2013. In September of the same year Richard William Parsons, a librarian who had worked in the BCPL library system since 1962, died.Jacques Kelly, "Richard W. Parsons, Baltimore County librarian," The Baltimore Sun, September 17, 2014. Due to a large snowstorm in March 2014, all BCPL branches were closed.The Baltimore Sun, "Baltimore-area attractions closed due to snow," March 3, 2014.