The Palm Beach CountyLibrary System is the public library system of Palm Beach County, Florida. It has its headquarters in the Main Library located in an unincorporated area near West Palm Beach, the county seat. The system was established in 1967 and serves Palm Beach County through the Main Library and 17 branch libraries. Its first library branch opened in Tequesta on September 25, 1969 and its first bookmobile, five days later. Unlike neighboring library systems in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, most municipalities in Palm Beach County continue to operate their own libraries, thus pushing most county system libraries to western suburban communities. Instead a cooperative system model is in place to allow interoperation between county and municipal libraries.
Services
The Palm Beach County Library System provides a number of services to area patrons. The Adult Literacy Project provides those learning English as a second language with free, informal conversation sessions. Project members encourage community participation in the program, including educational materials, sponsors, tutors, and student workshops and cultural events. The Palm Beach County Library System provides on- and off-site story time service to local child centers, as well as workshops to assist teachers in storytelling technique. The libraries within the Palm Beach County library system also offer a large amount of socializing, educational and craft programs for children and teens of various ages. These programs are meant to reach out to the community, offer socializing and opportunities for individuals to discover new interests in a safe environment. These activities cover a large array of subjects such as Dungeons and Dragons, Teen Trivia, Anime classes and discussion groups, Teen Gaming, Poetry and Harry Potter classes. The education-based programs are meant to also offer new skills, tutoring opportunities and understand safety skills. They also offer many online and technology-related classes for everyone from children to adults. All of the classes are focused towards specific age groups. Adults are also offered an array of programs for socializing, education and entertaining. These classes focus on subjects such as practice of the English language, Stress, Meditation, Yoga, crochet, poetry, music, and movie viewing. Some of these classes are focused on professional tasks such as taxes, resume updates, new computer skills, online learning and medicare. Each class is designed to meet the needs of local citizens within their area. Palm Beach County is large and there are many libraries with different demographics they serve so each one chooses the necessary programs to meet their patrons' needs. The library also offers Books-By-Mail, Deaf Resource Center, and Talking Books services to those in special populations. Book Club in a Bag is another service offered which facilitates the selection of titles for local book club meetings. Multiple copies of the title and discussion notes are included, making it simple to start and maintain a book club. The Palm Beach County Library System also will help solve the problem of figuring out what to read next. Through their "What to read next" page, a patron can access a variety of different websites and blogs, such as NoveList Plus, , LibraryThing, and Goodreads, which will supply them with the information needed to find their new book. The library system also offers a Speakers Bureau, where library staff will visit civic organizations, homeowners associations, and volunteer groups to give presentations on the services and opportunities available at the library. Each library offers many different forms of media such as books, comics, DVDs, CDs, magazines, newspapers digital ebooks, audiobooks and many other options. Physical media items can be requested from neighboring libraries and then delivered at a later date for pick up. Electronic and digital items can be located and downloaded from associated programs such as , OverDrive and hoopla. These library items have the ability to be downloaded onto the patron's personal electronic devices for a preset amount of time. When their download has expired it will delete from their device.
Branches
The library system has seventeen branches located throughout Palm Beach County:
The Palm Beach County Bookmobile offers a selection of over 3,000 books that include adult and children's fiction and nonfiction, regular and large-print. Bookmobile staff help patrons find books on board as well as helping out with any research questions. The Bookmobile makes several stops a week around various locations in Palm Beach County.
Funding
The Palm Beach County Library System takes a large percentage of its funding, roughly 85.2% as of 2016, from ad valoremproperty taxes collected by the county. This renders it less dependent upon outside grants.
The Palm Beach County Library Association is a professional organization that advocates for and supports libraries, librarians, and the advancement of each. The organization hosts a variety of events and fundraisers. They support professional development of librarians and library science students by providing Professional Development Awards. Membership is not exclusive; it is open to students, librarians at all levels and areas, and supporters of libraries.
The Friends of the Palm Beach County Library System is a non-profit organization, acting in support of Palm Beach County Library System missions. The Friends of the Palm Beach County Library seeks to provide assistance to staff and patrons by funding a variety of programs and educational activities. The Friends of the Library also funds an annual scholarship award named for founding Friends member, Ingrid A. Eckler. Ingrid A Eckler Scholarships assist Palm Beach County Library System staff pursuing educations in Library and Information Science.
