Alachua County Library District
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The Alachua County Library District is an independent special taxing district and the sole provider of public library service to approximately 250,000 citizens of Alachua County, Florida. This includes all of the incorporated municipalities in the county. It maintains a Headquarters Library and four other branches in Gainesville. There are branch locations in seven of the eight other incorporated municipalities in the county. ACLD also operates a branch at the county jail, and two bookmobiles.
Contents
Locations
The Alachua County Library District has twelve locations. In Gainesville alone there are five locations, including the Headquarters Branch in downtown Gainesville, Millhopper Branch in northwest Gainesville, Tower Road Branch in unincorporated Alachua county southwest of Gainesville, Library Partnership Branch in northeast Gainesville, and Cone Park Branch in east Gainesville. The district also operates branches in the Alachua County municipalities of Alachua, Archer, Hawthorne, High Springs, Micanopy, Newberry, and Waldo, and a branch at the Alachua County Jail. The district operates two bookmobiles which visit more than 25 locations in the county from two to five times a month.[1][2][3]
Hours of Operation
| Location | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | 9:30-9:00 | 9:30-9:00 | 9:30-9:00 | 9:30-9:00 | 9:30-6:00 | 9:30-5:00 | 1:00-5:00 |
| Alachua | 11:00-7:00 | 11:00-7:00 | 11:00-7:00 | 11:00-7:00 | 11:00-5:00 | 11:00-5:00 | 1:00-5:00 |
| Archer | 10:00-7:00 | 10:00-7:00 | 10:00-7:00 | 10:00-7:00 | Closed | Closed | 1:00-5:00 |
| Cone Park | 10:00-6:00 | 10:00-6:00 | 10:00-6:00 | 10:00-6:00 | 10:00-5:00 | 10:00-5:00 | Closed |
| Hawthorne | 10:00-7:00 | 10:00-7:00 | 10:00-7:00 | 10:00-7:00 | 1:00-5:00 | 1:00-5:00 | 1:00-5:00 |
| High Springs | 10:00-5:00 | 10:00-8:00 | 10:00-5:00 | 10:00-8:00 | 10:00-5:00 | 10:00-2:00 | 1:00-5:00 |
| Library Partnership | 9:00-6:00 | 9:00-6:00 | 11:00-7:00 | 11:00-7:00 | 9:00-5:00 | 10:00-3:00 | Closed |
| Micanopy | 11:00-7:00 | 1:00-7:00 | 1:00-7:00 | 1:00-7:00 | Closed | Closed | 1:00-5:00 |
| Millhopper | 9:30-8:30 | 9:30-8:30 | 9:30-8:30 | 9:30-8:30 | 9:30-5:00 | 9:30-5:00 | 1:00-5:00 |
| Newberry | 10:00-8:00 | 10:00-8:00 | 10:00-8:00 | 10:00-8:00 | 10:00-5:00 | 10:00-5:00 | 1:00-5:00 |
| Tower Road | 9:30-8:30 | 9:30-8:30 | 9:30-8:30 | 9:30-8:30 | 9:30-5:00 | 9:30-5:00 | 1:00-5:00 |
| Waldo | 12:30-7:00 | 12:30-7:00 | 12:30-7:00 | 12:30-7:00 | Closed | Closed | 1:00-5:00 |
History
The Alachua County Library District traces its origins to 1905, when the Twentieth Century Club in Gainesville started a subscription library. The Gainesville Public Library, which was a subscription library operated by the Library Association, opened in 1906. The Twentieth Century Club donated the books from its subscription library, and the new library also received books from the library of the East Florida Seminary, which had been absorbed by the newly founded University of Florida. The Gainesville Public Library became a free library in 1918, supported by funds from city taxes, and in a building constructed with the aid of a Carnegie grant. The library became a department of the City of Gainesville in 1949. A branch of the Gainesville Public Library, the Carver Branch Library, was opened in 1953 to provide library services to the African-American population of Gainesville. The Carver Branch closed in 1969, after the main library had been desegregated. In 1958, the City of Gainesville and Alachua County agreed to jointly operate the library for the whole county. Branch libraries were opened in High springs, Hawthorne and Micanopy the next year, and a bookmobile was put into service. Alachua County joined with Bradford County to operate the Santa Fe Regional Library. After Bradford County withdrew from the Regional Library, the Alachua County Library District was formally established in 1986. The Millhopper and Tower Road branches opened in 1992, and the branches in Alachua, Archer, Newberry and Waldo were all opened by 1997. The Library Partnership Branch opened in 2009, and the Cone Park Branch in 2011. A new, permanent location for the Cone Park Branch Library was opened near the Eastside Community Center in Gainesville on December 14, 2013.[4][5][6]
Library cards
Library cards are free to any resident of the State of Florida and to non-residents who own property in Florida. Out of state residents may get a card by paying a fee. A potential user must register in person with proper identification and proof of residency or of ownership of property in the state. The registration of a minor requires the parent or legal guardian to have their own ID plus an acceptable form of ID for the child. Acceptable forms of identification for a minor include:
- Health insurance card
- School report card
- School immunization record
- Social Security card
- Birth certificate
- Passport
Library card renewal is required every two years and must be done in person with a photo ID and proof of mailing address. A patron must have a $0 account balance in order to renew a card.[7]
Checkouts and returns
Library card holders can checkout and return items at any branch located in Alachua County, including the two bookmobiles. Total checkout is limited to 100 items with a max of 8 DVDs per account. Books and audiobooks checkout for 4 weeks, music CDs checkout for 2 weeks, and DVDs checkout for 1 week. Items may be renewed twice, as long as they are not on hold for another patron. Audiobooks, eBooks, music, TV shows and movies are available to library card holders as downloadable digital media from the ACLD website.
The Library District does not have late fees. Five or more overdue items or $50.00 worth of overdue materials will block borrowing privileges until the items are returned or paid for.[8][9]
Library support
The Library District is supported by the Friends of the Library (established in 1954) with a bi-annual book sale, the largest of its kind in the state of Florida, and the ACLD Foundation, which raises money through the sale of name plaques and author galas.[4][10][11]
Recognition
- The Alachua County Library District was co-recipient of the Florida Library Association 2010 Library of the Year Award.[12]
- The Library Partnership branch was selected for the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation Bright Ideas program in 2010.[13]
- Sol Hirsch, Director of the district (2004-2011), received the 2011 Peggy Sullivan Award for Public Library Administrators Supporting Services to Children from the American Library Association.[14][15]
- The district was one of five libraries and five museums to receive the 2011 National Medal for Museum and Library Service awarded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.[16]
References
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