Joplin Public Library

The Joplin Public Library District was established in 1902 when the citizens of Joplin voted a 10¢ tax levy to operate a public library. A Carnegie Foundation grant of $40,000 paid for the construction of a library building at 9th Street and Wall Avenue. In 1980 the present building at 300 S. Main Street was constructed at a cost of approximately $2,000,000. The new library building was opened to the public in May 1981. In 1995 the building was remodeled and expanded to create the Rosemary Titus Reynolds Children’s Library, which was dedicated in March 1996. The building, which covers approximately 35,000 square feet, is fully handicapped-accessible.

As the largest public library between Springfield and Tulsa, the Joplin Public Library District attracts users from the entire tri-state area. The collection includes approximately 115,000 items in print and non-print format. The Library is open 72 hours a week, including evenings and Saturday and Sunday. The Library automated all circulation and technical processing operations in 1992 with federal funding under the Library Services and Construction Act. Off-site dial-in access, also federally funded, became available in 1995, and the following year the Library started offering free Internet access to patrons. In 1999, the Library introduced its Web site and provided access to its catalog on the Internet, available at http://www.joplinpubliclibrary.org.

The Joplin Public Library District is funded primarily by a combination of real estate taxes and commercial surtaxes. Library-generated revenues and a city general fund subsidy also support the Library’s operations. In 1993 Joplin voters approved an increase in the library levy from 9¢ to 20¢ per $100 valuation. State-wide reassessments since 1993 have resulted in several rollbacks, reducing the levy to 15.45¢. In 2006, voters approved a 10¢ levy increase, bringing the total levy to 25.45¢ for that year. The levy will continue to decrease annually due to rollbacks.

The Joplin Public Library District is a Special District, as are all library districts in Missouri. In Jasper County, the library district includes all property within the Joplin city limits. In Newton County, the library district includes only that portion of the City of Joplin which was within the city limits on October 13, 1965.

References

Primary source, Joplin Public Library Policy Manual, 2008

Copyright 2008 Joplin Public Library Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".