1869-1994

A Celebration of the Cleveland Public Library

by James M. Wood ONE HUNDRED AND TwENTY-FIVE

1869-1994

A Celebration of the Cleveland Public Library

by James M. Wood

CLEVELAND PUBLICLIBRARY I2- 1869-1994 y ~ This is the second published account of the Cleveland Public Library. The first, Open Shelves and Open Minds, was a centennial history written by the late C. H. "Red" Cramer, a professor of history at Case Western Reserve University. This book takes up where Professor Cramer's left off, and in that sense the two books are companion pieces. But this book was conceived as a stand-alone project. While the narrative covers roughly the last twenty-five years, the story of the first hundred years is told through historic photographs and their captions.

The Cleveland Public Library gratefully acknowledges the people, inside and outside the Library, who participated in the making of this book. They are Fran Clark, Ann Olszewski, and Helen Azusenis of the Library staff, Rory O'Connor of Whelan Communications Inc. , Cleveland, Don Borger of Design Associates, Cleveland, and, of course, the author.

Also by james M. Wood Halle's: Memoirs of a Family Department Store

Photographs: The Cleveland Public Library Archives

Copyright © 1994 by the Friends of Cleveland Public Library. All rights reserved. Artist's renderiug of tile Cleveland Public Library's new Ea$L Wing. PART 1: HOSTAGES

PART 1 Hostages

A NICE COLD RAIN had subdued low normal-and the chilling rain many Clevelanders on their way to had blackened the bare branches of work Wednesday morning, Novem­ the flowering crab and gum trees in ber 8, 1990, but not Marilyn Gell the Eastman Reading Garden four Mason, director ofThe Cleveland Pub­ floors below her office windows. News lic Library for the last four years. The reports from Baghdad that same morn­ temperature was 40-ten degrees be- ing further nurtured pessimists. Iraq's president, Saddam Hussein, had said he might release a few of the hundreds of foreign nationals, many of them Americans, he was holding as "human shields" against possible bombing raids, a rumored retaliation for his August invasion of Kuwait. But Mrs. Mason, born Marilyn Killebrew on August 23, 1944, in Chickasha, Oklahoma, was neither subdued by the weather, nor pessi­ mistic about the Middle East. In fact, the director sensed a unique opportu­ nity to make something extraordinary In 1986 Marilyn Gel! Mason spoke to the City Club of Cleveland, happen for the library. outlining her plans to increase public access to the Library's The director already had a na­ collection through the use of new electronic technologies. tional reputation for making things

1 ONE HU DRED AND TWE TY-FIVE

happen. When her predecessor, the urban public library systems over the late Ervin ] . Gaines, had retired in distribution of intangible tax collec­ 1986, she told Library trustees search­ tions. The trustees and the director ing for his replacement, "I'm not good had replaced income lost in the settle­ at the status quo. I'm interested in ment and other statewide funding building, reaching new heights." cutbacks by successfully passing a Her self-analysis had proved two-mill general property tax levy in accurate. August, 1988. ln four short years, the trustees As she was stabilizing and increas­ and Mrs. Mason had settled several ing the Library's resources, she also lawsuits, legacies of a decades-long was enhancing the Library's national dispute with the Cuyahoga County leadership in three critical areas: col­ Public Library and independent sub- lection, branches, and computer tech-

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February 17, 1869 In a single room on the third noor of a small brick building on West Superior Avenue, less than a block from Public Square, Luther Melville Oviatt opened a "Public School Library" for the Cleveland Board of Education. The collection totaled 5,800 books. Circulation was limited to a single volume per fam ily: "No renewals." Yet the books were circulating at all times. Hours were from 10 a.m. to noon, 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on all "secular" days of the year. There was no catalog. Books were numbered and shelved in order of their accession. An "Accessions Book" from the 1870s still exists in the Cleveland Public Library's archive. A random entry shows the beginning of an eclectic collection.

2 PART 1: HOSTAGES

seven days a week. As a trustee of the Online Computer Library Center since 1984, Mrs. Mason knew the impor­ tance of computer technology to the futute of libraries. In Cleveland, she had not only opened a gateway to an electronic highway, she continued to widen the road almost monthly by providing free access to new elec­ tronic databases unavailable anywhere else in the country. Eighteen library systems subscribed to CLEVNET, the In April, 1991, Library trustees announced the purchase of Villa common catalog listing 1.6 million Angela Academy, a former girls school on Lake Erie. Plans called titles covering 5.6 million items, plus for the building's renovation to create a badly-needed branch for a periodicals list from 60 public, busi­ the Lake Shore neighborhood, as well as to relieve overcrowding ness, university and medical libraries at the Main Library. At a press conference at the wooded site, in a five-county area. Mrs. Mason was joined at the speakers podium by then-Library The public enthusiastically re­ board President Thomas D. Corrigan (center) and Ohio Governor sponded to the improvements in ser­ George V. Voinovich. vice. According to the Library's 1990 Annual Report, since 1988, books nology. She opened the Main Library borrowed for home use had increased on Sundays and extended service 3 7 percent, reference questions had hours in 30 branches. She introduced increased 15 percent, books loaned broad use of videocassettes and soft­ to other libraries had increased 75 ware packages to the collection, and percent, walk-in use at Main Library conducted summer reading programs was up 31 percent, and branch usage for children, which broke attendance was up 2 7 percent. records. The Library had cataloged 51 ,884 The director had made the Library new titles, the highest number ever, more accessible to all its patrons. Hers up 12 percent from the year before. was the first large urban library in the Full-time employees numbered only United States to offer dial-up access to 462, down more than 200 from the its online catalog 24 hours a day, 1970s. More than half the staff mem-

3 O N E H U NDR E D AN D TWE N TY-FIVE

june, 1875 In the Case Block at East Third Street and Superior Avenue (the site of the present Main Library), the Library's second head librarian, Irad Beardsley, opened the first newspaper room. He subscribed to 30 dailies and 26 weeklies in English. Foreign newspapers included three in German and two in Bohemian. Foreign language books and periodicals, reflecting Cleveland's diverse ethnic residents, would become a special strength of the new Library. A photograph taken prior to 1900 shows a later newspaper room at the Old Central High School on Euclid Avenue just west of East Ninth Street, where the Library moved in 1879.

bers were minorities and annual tum­ solving the problems created by the overwas only 2. 4 percent. The record­ cramped and deteriorating landmark breaking statistics came at time when Main Library and its Business and the City of Cleveland population con­ Science Annex on Superior Avenue in tinued to decline. downtown Cleveland. The millions of Yet two crucial issues still nagged items in the Library's world-renowned at the ambitious director. research collection were themselves One was finding a site for a new held hostage on overcrowded stacks Lake Shore branch on the northeast by leaky roofs, bursting water pipes, edge of Cleveland. and dangerously antiquated electrical The other was far more critical: systems.

4 PA R T 1 : H OS T AGES

From her office window in the Cleveland Public Library's long and Main Library, Mrs. Mason could see remarkable historical development, a the glistening tar-coated roof on the fitting commemoration of the Library's Business and Science Annex, the l25th anniversary in 1994. source of numerous leaks that had forced the staff to cover rows and OF THE 11 men and women who rows of shelves with plastic tarps­ have directed the 125-year-old Li­ part of a temporary "disaster manage­ brary, Mrs. Mason is one of the most ment" plan to prevent damage to the politically experienced. She was Library's irreplaceable holdings. graduated from the john F. Kennedy But on that bleak morning, Mrs. School for Government at Harvard Mason was more interested in analyz­ University in 1978 with a masters ing the results of the Ohio governor's degree in public administration. She race than contemplating the cost of managed library programs for the roof repairs. November 8, 1990, was Metropolitan Washington Council the day after a state-wide election. of Governments from 1973 to 1977, Her political instincts told her to place and directed the White House Con­ a call to the state's new governor­ ference on Libraries and Information elect, and former mayor of Cleveland, Services from 1979 to 1980. Her pub­ George V. Voinovich. lic library experience includes service Her call to the governor-elect ulti­ at the New jersey State Library in mately would solve not only an 11- Trenton and the Arlington County year-old problem with the Lake Shore Library in Virginia. branch; it also would set in motion a From 1982 to 1986, as director of series of events that would solve the the Atlanta-Fulton County Public multiple 40-year-old problems at the Library in Georgia, she merged a cen­ Main Library. tral city library with its suspicious During the next three years, the suburban counterparts, creating bet­ Library's board of trustees and its de­ ter inner city branches, a finer main manding director would find a way to library, and improved suburban rescue, protect, and provide greater services in what had been a badly public access to that extraordinary fragmented, contentious system. In collection. The innovative solution the process, she successfully passed would become the capstone of the what was then the largest capital con-

5 O NE HU N DRED AND TW EN TY- F I V E

lie Library: A Management Guide," March 15, 1989): "Libraries want to avoid any kind of involvement in partisan politics, but that does not mean that we should be naive about the conditions under which elected officials work." "Without exception," she wrote, "elected officials have a broad agenda and numerous constituents. Libraries are seldom at the top of their list of concerns. Libraries are, however, well thought of in most communities and August, 1884 elected officials are happy to support A year after the Public School Library was officially renamed The them, especially if they become a Cleveland Public Library, William Howard Brett, who managed Cobb and Andrews Company in Cleveland, the largest bookstore part of a larger agenda. Since most east of Philadelphia, was appointed head librarian. The bookseller public libraries have a great many set high standards for his staff, a precedent that continues today. In 1893, Brett held the first competitive exams for library assistants.ln needs it is usually not difficult to tie 1898, he convened six-week summer sessions at 7 a.m. to train one or more into the overall agenda of library assistants. In 1904, he organized Western Reserve University's library school and was its first dean. By 1912, he employed 200 the community." assistants: 55 were college graduates, five held masters degrees, and When she finally had the gover­ 26 had earned library school diplomas. He is pictured at his desk (circa 1904) at still another downtown library site: the fifth and sixth nor-elect on the phone, Mrs. Mason floors of the Kinney-Levan building, 1375-1385 Euclid Avenue, in offered congratulations and said she the area that would eventually become known as Playhouse Square. wanted to propose a "partnership" between the State of Ohio and the struction bond issue ever undertaken Cleveland Public Library which she by a U.S. public library. believed the governor would find Mrs. Mason, who received a bach­ attractive. elor of arts from the University of Specifically, Mrs. Mason said she Dallas in 1966 and a masters oflibrary was willing to recommend to the science from North Texas State Uni­ Library's trustees that they purchase versity at Denton in 1968, summa­ an acre of the land at the Villa Angela rized her political approach in the Academy, a former girls' school on Library Journal ("Politicsand the Pub- Lake Shore Boulevard once operated

6 P A R T 1: H OS TA GES

by the Ursuline nuns of Cleveland. of finding a suitable site for the Lake The Library was interested in reno­ Shore neighborhood branch. vating about 10,000 square feet of an Mrs. Mason told Voinovich that existing building at the old school as a the State of Ohio could purchase the new branch library. The idea was that rem~inder of the 30-acre campus, in­ the facility would eventually replace cluding portions of the buildings the the aging Nottingham and Memorial library couldn't use, as part of its branches, thus resolving the problem Cleveland Lakefront State Park sys­ tem, which the State had been devel­ oping for almost a decade. For several years, the Ohio Department of Natu­ ral Resources had been interested in purchasing a portion of the Academy's lakefront grounds to add to its exist­ ing Euclid Beach and Wildwood Parks. Mrs. Mason suggested that if they both gave the project a priority, it would be a classic example of what politicians call a "win-win" situation. The expanded park and new branch could be announced to voters in the "0~ <( E spring at an outdoor press conference Jl £ overlooking Euclid Creek where it 0 0 ..c Q.. enters Lake Erie. It could be an impor­ july, 1888 tant accomplishment for the new Brett completed his Alphabetic Catalogue of the English Books in the governor, demonstrating a creative Circulation Department of the Cleveland Public Library: Authors, partnership between his administra­ Titles, and Subjects. Published in 1889, it listed 32,000 volumes on 1,407 pages. For almost 20 years it was a model for U.S. public tion and local public institutions. libraries. That same year, Brett adapted Melvil Dewey's book num­ bering system to make it easier for the public to use. He insisted that Voinovich heartily agreed. He fiction and biographies be shelved alphabetically, rather than by could not have helped but appreciate Dewey's decimals. In 1896, he initiated a "slip index" cataloging the Mrs. Mason's spirit of cooperation. contents of magazines which would eventually become the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature. Brett began still another Cleveland During their conversation, he even Public Library tradition: innovative cataloging that increased public access to library materials. reviewed the status of the Main Library's problems.

7 ONE H U NDRED AND T W EN T Y - F I VE

Expanding and renovating the As recommended in the long­ Main library had been one of Mrs. range plan, the trustees had approved Mason's goals since she, key Library a capital plan in 1988 for renovating staff members, and their consultants both the Main Library and the Busi­ had completed a long range planning ness and Science Annex, adding study in 1987, her first full year as 50,000 square feet of badly needed director. space. That same year, trustees had

1890 With the Library's holdings completely recorded, Brett began an unusual experiment. He was the first head of a metropolitan library to open shelves to the public, with the exception of fiction and juvenile books. Brett's policy would become known as "open shelves, open minds." Books were still kept behind glass doors, as shown in an alcove of the Reference Library at the old Central High School, but the doors were opened on request by library assistants. Circulation increased 44 percent. Five years later, pressured by the public and the press, Brett made the entire collection available. To critics concerned about pilferage, Brett replied, "I have not much use for the kind of honesty that depends on lack of opportunity; l think that to give a boy or to give a man access to the shelves is equivalent to saying, we believe you will take care of these books, we believe you will not steal them. Most people respond to this."

8 P A RT 1 : HO STAG E S

authorized an architectural competi­ a year. Voinovich even released a tion between three design teams­ letter to the trustees opposing any consisting of Cleveland architects and plan that called for building on gar­ national library design experts-to den property. see which team might develop the Over the next l2 months opposi­ best solution to the Main Library's tion continued and cost estimates for problems. They appointed a blue rib­ the controversial design escalated. bon advisory committee. Finally Mrs. Mason suggested that The committee spent a full day the board of trustees declare a mora­ hearing the proposals and rated the torium on the capital plan. "The com­ submissions in order of their prefer­ munity reaction was negative," Mrs. ence. Subsequently, the trustees de­ Mason remembers. "So we changed cided to overrule the panel, rejecting our approach. It's the public's library, their first choice and deciding to pro­ so we have tried to be responsive and ceed with the controversial design of responsible. The board knew when the panel's third choice. Most panel to stop." members were infuriated and were During their conversation, joined by vocal representatives of the Voinovich reviewed the limits that public at large. were placed on the site of the Business The design the trustees selected and Science Annex. If the Library surrounded the Eastman Garden could not build on the site of the with spectacular glass bridges that Eastman Reading Garden, and if the would have linked the landmark city would not approve a tower on the Main Library and a new annex on edge of Cleveland's historic Burnham four levels. Mall that violated the Mall's tradi­ Then-Mayor Voinovich joined a tional height limitations, didn't the chorus of critics who thought the plan Library have to consider relocating would destroy the Eastman Reading some of the Main Library's functions Garden, a popular vest-pocket park away from the downtown site? between the Main Library and the And if the director were forced to Annex that serves as an outdoor lunch relocate some functions, wouldn't Villa spot and public forum during good Angela be a suitable new site, since in weather, which the city had histori­ the future the Library would be oper­ cally leased to the Library for a dollar ating a branch on the property?

9 ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE

February, 1898 On Washington's Birthday, Brett opened the first children's reading room at the old Central High School. A year earlier, vice-librarian Linda A. Eastman had organized a Children's Library League. Its motto? Clean Hearts, Clean Hands, Clean Books. In 12 months the League had 14,000 members. Short ladders on wheels led to a broad ledge attached to the shelves that circled the room. In the photograph children are standing on the ledge. Nimble young readers selected books with one foot on a ladder and the other hopping along the ledge. On Saturdays, librarians often issued children more than a thousand books.

By the end of their conversation, led him to throw a rescue line to the Voinovich had asked Mrs. Mason to Main library. Without agreeing to reconsider how much space she might any specific proposals, Mrs. Mason use in Villa Angela's buildings before agreed to reconsider the Library's use proceeding with plans for a Lake Shore of Villa Angela. Her willingness to branch. reconsider a position she had once Suddenly, the singular phone call rejected was a classic example of how had not only tied a branch library to she managed innovation. The phone the governor-elect's agenda; it also call, she would remember later, "led

10 PART 1: HOSTAGES

us to take all the pieces of the puzzle when, for the first time, the Cuyahoga about the Main Library and rearrange County Budget Commission reduced them." the percentage of the intangibles tax allocated to Cleveland Public Library. MRS. MASON'S "REARRANGE­ For a few years, the reduction was MENT" process had already solved a partially offset by the increasing num­ number of the Library's problems, ber of dollars produced by the intan­ including a controversy over the dis­ gibles tax. But the inability to predict tribution of intangibles taxes, and the the amount accurately "was threaten­ pioneering application of computer ing to erode the maintenance of the technology to the Library's vast Main Library as a major research fa­ operations. cility," according to Marian A. Huttner, The distribution of intangibles the Library's deputy director, who taxes collected by the State of Ohio served as interim director during 1985, had been a festering source of ill­ the year that Ervin Gaines resigned feeling for years among library sys­ after 11 years as director. tems serving Cuyahoga County. In "The County Library wanted a 1979, the issue became critical for the larger share of the monies, based on Cleveland Public Library's future, the claim that it served a larger popu-

Miles of shelving at Villa Angela will house seldom-used boohs from the Main Library's collection.

ll O N E H U NDRED AND TW E NTY -F IV E

staff, in acquisitions of important research materials, and in every facet of the operation." The Cleveland Public Library, Cuyahoga County Public Library, and the Porter-Westlake Public Library appealed the decision to the Ohio Supreme Court in 1984. Subsequently suits by other library systems (Shaker, Cleveland Heights-University Heights, Lakewood, Euclid, and Rocky River) 1903- 1907 were filed to appeal the 1985 and During the 1890s Brett opened four self-contained branch libraries in leased buildings. As early as 1891, he asked Andrew Carnegie for 1986 distributions. help building permanent structures, but the steel-magnate-turned­ The Ohio Board of Tax Appeals philanthropist refused the librarian's requests for 12 years. Brett persevered and in 1903 Carnegie donated $250,000 to build seven heard the appeals in hearings that branches, including the Woodland Branch pictured here. Carnegie lasted for three weeks during Decem­ was so impressed with Brett's management of the funds, he eventu­ ally increased the amount to $507,000, which built 15 branches­ ber, 1984. A year later, the tax board the foundation for what would become one of the largest branch denied the Cleveland Public Library's systems in the United States. appeal-a decision that cost the Li­ brary $2,737,000. The Library ap­ lation and circulated more books," pealed to the Ohio Supreme Court Miss Huttner wrote in the Library's and created an escrow account in that 1985 Annual Report. "By awarding a amount-a contingency fund pend­ larger share of the funds to the Cuya­ ing the results of the Supreme Court's hoga County Library, the Board ofTax decision. Appeals effectively dismissed the In mid-1986, when Mrs. Mason premise that significant funding for accepted the directorship, the litiga­ the reference and research service of tion was a priority on her own and the the Cleveland Public Library for the board's agendas. Thomas D. Corrigan, entire county and indeed for the State a new trustee on the Cleveland Public of Ohio were important. The loss, Library's board at the time, believes which was 18.8 percent of Cleveland's Mrs. Mason "understood the possibil­ 1984 budget, had made necessary ity of politics for doing good." To severe retrenchments in numbers of Corrigan she seemed a marked con-

12 PART 1: HO S TAGE S

1911 Children living in the city's poorest industrial districts could not visit the Library downtown or the new branches, so Brett and Miss Eastman put small reading collections in convenient neighborhood homes, like this one in an Italian community. By 1913, there were 57 "home libraries" in seven different working class districts. They served 1,525 children from 11 different nationalities: Italian, Greek, Syrian, Polish, Bohemian, Hungarian, Slovak, Irish, German, Danish, and Norwegian.

trast to her predecessor. "Gaines saw j ones and Corrigan did not be­ politics as a threat," Corrigan says. lieve the Ohio Supreme Court would With their colleagues' consent, overrule the tax appeals board. So Corrigan and trustee Stephanie Tubbs they proposed to release to the County jones devised a strategy for solving the largest share of the library's es­ the dispute. "We met with the crow account in return for a larger Cuyahoga County Public Library's percentage of future intangible tax trustees," Corrigan remembers. "Ifwe collections. The Cuyahoga County could reach a settlement with the Public library accepted the trustees' County, we believed the other library offer. Eventually the other library dis­ systems would follow our lead." tricts withdrew their suits.

l3 O N E HU N DRED AND TW ENT Y - FIVE

two-mill general property tax levy, the Library's finances were restored to the stability of the late 1970s. Mrs. Mason moved ahead with her agenda. The Cleveland Research Center was established, which provides in­ depth research to Library clients for a SALUTES fee. The Library also negotiated its CtEVEUNn first labor-management contract with District 925 of the Service Employees AUTHORS International Union of the AFL-CIO. Mrs. Mason reconvened the Library's Rare Books Committee dur­ ing her first year. Over the next three years the Library received grants from the Major Urban Research Library Fund, the Library Services and Con­ struction Act Title 1, the State Library of Ohio, and the Cleveland, Gund, The Annual Cleveland Author Festival, begun by Mrs. Mason in and Kulas Foundations for establish­ 1989, celebrates local writers. ing a preservation center at the Main Library and restoring deteriorating "We needed to resolve the law­ items in the collection. suits and move ahead," Mrs. Mason Then in November of 1988, the said later. "I believe some problems Library introduced remote public ac­ are irrational and the only way they cess to the online catalog. "With this can be resolved is with an irrational service," the director announced, answer. "anyone with a personal computer "We lost a portion of the escrow can search the Library's catalog from account we should have had," she home, office or dorm room, 24 hours says, "but settling the dispute was a day, seven days a week." more important." Response was immediate. In the With the dispute resolved, and first week of operation Robert the passage the following year of the Carterette, director of Automation

14 P A RT 1: H OS TA G E S

Services, had to double the number of network (LAN) at the Main Library, access ports to the system from eight increase online storage capacity of to 16 to handle patron demand. central site equipment, and imple­ At the same time, Mrs. Mason ment online interface with a major announced a five-year Technical Plan. jobqer using acquisition software." The first year's goal- "remote public (In other words, eliminate the paper­ access to the online catalog"-was work from buying books.) In 1990, fait accompli. For the following year, she hoped to "provide network access she proposed to "establish a local area to indexes and databases published

1913 Of the many notable Clevelanders who served on the Library's board of trustees during Brett's tenure, none was more influential than j ohn Griswold White. When he was 65 years old, the prominent lawyer and book collector was reappointed to the board. As a trustee from 1884 to 1886, White had settled lawsuits that had hampered the Library's growth. He helped recruit and appoint Brett as librarian. White served as board president from 1910 to 1928, providing leadership and continuity during a critical phase of the Library's growth. He would help appoint Brett's successor and realize ambitious plans to build a repository for the Library's growing research materials, including his own eclectic collection.

15 ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY - FIVE

on CD-ROM and replace some public "Although not as glamorous as access terminals with multipurpose dial-up access," Mrs. Mason wrote in workstations." In 1991 she proposed Library Administration and Management to "convert periodical holdings to elec­ magazine ("Managing Innovation," tronic format and provide remote Winter 1991), "this step was essential public access to network services." to improving overall system perfor­ Mrs. Mason established the LAN mance .... " and "to provide a platform in classic "rearrangement" fashion. for adding service locally and provid­ She already had approved a plan to ing more sophisticated gateways to rewire the Main Library's outdated external databases." phone system when Carterette heard "The library's staff," Mrs. Mason about the project. He asked Mrs. says, "is not afraid to start new things. Mason to consider another idea. Why I believe we have institutionalized not install fiber-optic cables in the the idea of incremental change." new phone system's conduit? She In 1990, the benefits created by agreed and work began. CLEVNET and the LAN began to show in the Library's statistics. With access to its catalog, other library systems swamped Cleveland with requests. Filling local, national, and interna­ tional demands for material contin­ ued an upward trend-up 25 percent over 1989. The depth and breadth of the Library's collection also were veri­ fied; the Library continued to be a net lender, with less than one percent of total transactions being items bor­ rowed from other libraries. More dramatic proof of the technology's ability to meet patrons' The Library's popular summer reading programs broke attendance needs was demonstrated on the records dt4ring the 1980s and early 1990s when Mrs. Mason, nee evening of January 16, 1991, when Killebrew (her cousin is baseball legend Harmon Killebrew), the U.S. finally went to war against arranged for free tickets to Cleveland Indians games as a reward. Saddam Hussein in the Persian Gulf.

16 PART l: HOSTAGES

By 10 a.m. the next morning the Li­ not required for a branch could be brary was offering complete Associ­ redesigned to "accommodate non­ ated Press wire service reports about public departments and less frequently Operation Desert Storm via used books now housed in the Main CLEVNET. librflry." When the renovation of Villa An­ YET DESPITE THE REMARKABLE gela was completed, Mrs. Mason progress, the library's collection was planned to relocate material and ser­ still in danger. After her conversation vices remaining in the Business and with Governor-elect Voinovich, Mrs. Science Annex to the Main Building. Mason did begin to reconsider the She said at the time, "Space will be problems of the Main library. very tight, but we intend to maintain "We kept looking for solutions," public service in as normal a manner she remembers, "then I had a strange as possible throughout the life of the idea. Could we use a Villa Angela project." building we had rejected as too large Her plans called for the demoli­ for a branch, to accommodate some tion of the Business and Science An­ library functions? Suddenly all of the nex. It was to be replaced with a pieces rearranged themselves differ­ smaller structure than that called for ently. I recognized that the building by the proposals produced by the could be used, that it could relieve the earlier architectural competition. "The stress downtown." new building," she announced, "will By April, 1991, the results of her respect the tranquility of the Eastman "rearrangement" process were revealed Reading Garden and the character of to the public. The Library trustees neighboring structures." purchased the entire Villa Angela With the new annex-or East building and 14.5 acres of the campus Wing-completed, a third phase on lake Shore Boulevard for $2.2 would furnish the Main library with million. The State of Ohio purchased modern heating, electrical, plumbing, the remainder of the site-13.5 air conditioning, lighting, security, and acres-for $1.15 million, adding the fire safety systems. "It will all be done," property to its lakefront State Park. she declared, "without changing the Mrs. Mason decided the portions character of the building." of the Villa Angela building that were Following her announcement, the

17 ONE H UN DRED AND TWENTY-FIVE

Library's trustees placed a $90-mil­ ternational, Hardy Holzman PEeiffer lion bond issue, to finance the entire Associates, and Ralph C. Tyler, P.E., project, on the ballot. It was not even P.S. as the design team. a contest. In November, 1991, the In late 1993, after an exhaustive issue passed by a 71 percent margin. public review of the architectural de­ In April, 1992, the trustees inter­ sign, the trustees and the director were viewed eight architectural teams rep­ given full approval to proceed. resenting many of the finest library "The new East Wing," Mrs. Mason design architects from the United believes, "almost symbolizes where States and abroad. They selected URS we are at the moment-at several lev­ Consultants, Robert P. Madison In- els. Malcolm Holzman has designed

Architect Malcolm Holzman's rendering of the Library's new annex on Superior Avenue respects tradition by repeating design elements of the Landmark Main Library. At the same time the building expresses a dramatic future for the Library with its unusual oval form, setting a precedent for buildings in downtown Cleveland.

18 P A RT 1 : HO S T AGES

know. We are not rejecting books in the process. Our collection exists far beyond our own walls, but the new East Wing protects what's within our walls. That's important, too. The build­ ing is welcoming and inviting. It's uplifting, a very human building." Yet the director realizes the limita­ tions of any single building. It is a means to an end. "For years experts have predicted that modern industrial societies will be divided between the information rich and the information poor," Mrs. Mason says. "By provid­

1913 ing free access to computers and ex­ john Griswold White began donating books to the Cleveland Public pensive information databases, we are Library in 1885 when he presented Brett with 122 maps and four books. By 1913thenumberhadreached25,000.1t was the same year bridging that gap." the Cleveland Public Library moved to the Kinney-Levan building A similar gap was bridged some on upper Euclid Avenue. Designed as a warehouse, the building provided Brett with room to open White's collection to the public. 600 years ago, when the invention of The material included the nucleus of what would become the movable type brought books out of world's largest library devoted to chess, as well as internationally renowned holdings of Folklore and Orientalia. In 1899, when the seclusion in palaces and monasteries U.S. acquired the Philippines, White began collecting books on what and made them available to the masses. was then called Orientalia. "People cannot be made to read these Oriental books," White wrote Brett, "but .. .if they read with their As the Library's computer technology brain, as well as with their eyes, they will certainly begin to grows ever more sophisticated, it con­ appreciate that Orientals have different manners, different thoughts, as well as different customs from ours, and that what would be the tinues to refine and build upon direc­ best government for us, would be the most oppressive tyranny for tor William H. Brett's great innovation them." of 100 years ago-the open shelf. "In the branches we are no longer an appealing building which marries faced with decisions about whether to the features of the more historic Main buy books and duplicate them in doz­ Building with the future in a singular ens of locations," Mrs. Mason says. place. It will offer access to ever-larger "Technology empowers the most databases for ever more diverse infor­ isolated in our society. The steadily mation. Where will it end? I don't growing number of databases provides

19 O NE HUN DR E D AN D T W E N TY - FI VE

access to the world from very small or regional outlets, has been confirmed buildings. The branches have become during my tenure as director." a free and open window to the world In November, 1993, Cleveland that destroys barriers of wealth and voters renewed the two-mill, five-year class and race. After all, our branches property tax levy they had originally are within walking distance of anyone's passed in 1988 to replace lost intan­ home in Cleveland. The wisdom of gibles tax revenues. The vote reaf­ Dr. Gaines' decision to have many firmed the public's confidence in the small branches, rather than a few larger Library under Mrs. Mason and its remarkable branch system that Ervin Gaines rebuilt in the late 1970s and early '80s. In the justifiable pride of the Library's 125th anniversary, it is easy to forget that before Gaines took office in 1974, the Library faced another financial crisis, one exacerbated by administrative lethargy, which threat­ ened its century-old reputation as one of America's finest public libraries. To understand how far the Li­ brary has come over those years- and to appreciate the foundation on which Mrs. Mason was able to pursue her innovations in technology as well as resolve the problems of the Main Li­ brary-requires a return to the mid- 1970s, when the Library was limping toward survival.

Cleveland Public Library materials of the 21st century: videotapes, compact discs, software for personal computers, and CD-ROMs that vastly expand the size of the Library's reference "department" and the speed of information retrieval.

20 P A R T 2: T H E ENE RGY C RI S I S

PART 2 The Energy Crisis

A T THE MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. protected them from a light rain that branch library in University Circle, was beginning to puddle in the soft 11 of The Cleveland Public Library's remains of a five-day-old blizzard. top administrators hurried from their It was Tuesday ,january 15, 1974. cars to an arched brick colonnade that At 7:30a.m. the library was dark and so was the city. The sun would not rise for another hour and 20 minutes. Cleveland was on Daylight Saving Time-injanuary - because President Richard Nixon had reset the nation's clocks to conserve fuel. In the fall of 1973, the world's major oil-produc­ ing nations had drastically cut pro­ duction in order to increase crude oil prices. During the last 30 days in Cleveland, gasoline had jumped from 4 3 to 53 cents a gallon. During De­ cember, 1973, 100,000 jobs nation­ ally had been lost in what the media were calling an "energy crisis." Inside the King branch, one of the In 1971 Walter Curley (right) was appointed director of the newest of the system's 36 branches, Cleveland Public Library and interviewed by Fred Griffith, then the staff was taking the energy crisis public affairs director for WEWS-TV. seriously. Only the lights in the com-

21 ONE HUNDRED AND TWE TY-FIV E

August, 1918 By now the Library system Brett had built over 34 years included 25 full branches, 17 school libraries, 487 classroom libraries, 42 deposit stations (like the one pictured in a fireboat on the Cuyahoga River), plus 66 delivery stations in industrial plants and commercial establishments. The Cleveland Public Library's circulation per capita led every other metropolitan library in the nation. Shortly before 6 p.m. on August 24th, Brett and Miss Eastman left the Kinney-Levan Building and crossed Euclid Avenue to a pedestrian safety zone to wait for a streetcar. While standing in the zone, the 72-year-old librarian was struck by a car. He died an hour later. At his funeral, White called Brett "one of the most valuable citizens Cleveland had ever had."

munity meeting room were on when system's needs, but they had refused the administrators arrived to discuss to estimate the cost. the Library's "monetary concerns." It was more bad news for the men Finance Director Andrew Venable was and women who ran one of Cleveland's to brief administrators on what im­ grandest institutions, a civic treasure pact increased fuel costs would have considered by many to be the finest on the Library's operating budget, public library in North America. which in 19 7 4 was almost $10 million Venable was prepared that morn­ a year. Venable's suppliers had guar­ ing to tell his colleagues that the an­ anteed they would meet the entire nual deficit would bealmost$250,000.

22 PA R T 2: T H E ENE RG Y CR I S I S

In the pre-dawn darkness, however, The ninth director of the Cleve­ the business manager and the other land Public Library had resigned two administrators postponed reports in months earlier, after only three years deference to the Library's director, on the job-one of the shortest ten­ Walter W. Curley. lt was Curley's last ures of any director in the Library's administrators' meeting. history. After failing to convince a cantankerous board of trustees to adopt a plan for solving the system's financial problems, Curley was mov­ ing to Syracuse, New York, to take a job with a manufacturer of library ~ furniture and supplies. In the wake of the director's resig­ nation, the board's vice president, Robert Merritt, had proposed that all seven trustees resign and allow the Cleveland Board of Education, which appointed trustees, to name an entire new board. Merritt's colleagues did not agree to his proposal. "We can't agree on anything," he told a reporter from The Plain Dealer. "lf someone said Santa Claus was a nice man, we would debate it for 1919 three or four hours without reaching Following Brett's death, White urged his fellow board members to a conclusion." appoint Linda Ann Eastman to succeed the head librarian. They quickly agreed. After teaching school for six years, Miss Eastman ln the weeks following Curley's joined the Library as an apprentice in 1892, served for 20 years as resignation, the trustees continued to a librarian developing many special programs for children, and another 22 years as vice-librarian under Brett. During her tenure, argue. Arnold R. Pinkney, president she launched several unique services: a Travel Section to educate of the Cleveland Board of Education, residents embarking on trips, the Business Information Bureau, and services to hospitalized individuals and blind persons. She ex­ became increasingly concerned that panded library social services, first serving disabled veterans re­ the board would not be able to recruit, turning from World War I. Enthusiastic soldiers called it "bibliotherapy." let alone select and hire, a replace­ ment for Curley.

23 O N E H UN DR E D A D T W E T V - FI VE

November, 1921 The day before Brett was killed, Miss Eastman convinced him to build a main downtown library large enough to serve 5,000 people daily. The estimate was more than twice the number of persons who visited the Kinney-Levan building. Initially skeptical, Brett finally agreed. U.S. Government requests to postpone construction during World War I prevented Miss Eastman from beginning construction immediately at a site on Superior Avenue between East Third and Sixth streets. In 1921, however, Cleveland voters approved a $2- million bond issue. When added to $2.5 million available from previous authorizations, the proceeds gave the Library enough money to build the structure designed by Walker & Weeks. The Cleveland architectural firm won the commission in a competition with eight other architects.

On January 10, five days before dren of Cleveland in providing read­ the administrators' meeting, Pinkney ing exposure beyond school hours," a had moved to resolve the problem. He reference to recent reductions of issued an angry "news release" accus­ branch services in Cleveland neigh­ ing the trustees of not fulfilling their borhoods, approved by trustees with­ obligations to "meet the reference and out similar cutbacks at the downtown research requirements of a special­ Main Library. By law, the Cleveland ized age," or "the needs of people in Public Library was established to serve the ever-changing neighborhoods." the residents of the school district Pinkney claimed the trustees had governed by the Cleveland Board of not promoted "the needs of the chil- Education, which roughly coincided

24 PA R T 2: THE ENE R GY C RI S I S

with the boundaries of the City of Finally, because the trustees had Cleveland. The Main Library's spe­ "lost a respected director who must be cialized collections served thousands replaced immediately," Pinkney asked of Cuyahoga County suburban resi­ for the resignation of all seven trust­ dents who didn't pay City of Cleve­ ees, ~ffective Thursday, February 28, land property taxes. 1974. Twenty-four hours later, four trustees-Vice President Merritt, Neil R. O'Malley, Murray Davidson, and Martin H. Sutler-appeared ready to resign, "if the others would, too." Two of their colleagues, Marie Pittman and President Thomas ]. Kiousis, refused Pinkney's request. "Quitting would be running away from the problem," Kiousis told The Plain Dealer. The seventh trustee, George J. Livingston, could not be reached for comment. He had momentarily es­ caped the blizzard, the rain, the en­ ergy crisis, and the demand for his resignation by attending a seminar in Jamaica. To suggest nominees for their re­ placements, Pinkney appointed a li­ As early as the 1920s, the Library had been criticized for not brary advisory committee, which he recruiting and employing African-American staff members, a also asked to "study, evaluate and problem that would not be resolved until the mid-1970s. A remark­ analyze the present library situation." able exception was Louise Bolden (left) who had risen through the To the committee Pinkney named ranks to become librarian at the Martin Luther King]r. Regional Helen Bond, RobertBry, David Collier, Branch by 1971. Iota Phi Lambda Sorority honored Mrs. Bolden for C. H. "Red" Cramer, Campbell W. her numerous achievements at a tea held in her branch library that Elliott,John Ferrante,Joseph Flower, was attended by Clara jones (right), then director of the Detroit Thelma Fry, Roseanne Glass, Father Public Library. Oscar Gumucio, S.j., Father Basil

25 0 ! E H U NDRED AI\D TWE~TY- F IVE

book about the Library's first hundred years, Open Shelves and Open Minds, published in 1969. He could only remember one other time when an entire board had been asked to resign. The year was 1941 and Cramer con­ sidered it a low point in the Library's history. The early-morning meeting at the King branch was the first time the administrators had an opportunity to assess what the controversy meant for the Library's future. Clara Lucioli, director of professional services, re­ ported on the 14 advisory committee members' credentials for their assign­ ment. "Only five of them have library cards," she told the group. October 23, 1923 Curley predicted that several board At 2 p.m. john Griswold White, president of the Cleveland Public library Board of Trustees, pulled a gold watch from his pocket. members would resign and then said David Lloyd George, Britain's former prime minister, was late. He farewell to his chief assistants, trying was scheduled to join White on the speaker's platform to dedicate the cornerstone of the new Main Library and deliver a major address. to put his departure in the best light. The imperious and punctual White began without him. George He told them that his "resignation had finally arrived from a Chamber of Commerce luncheon, somewhat out of breath to deliver his address, but the event characterized the exposed the Board to public scrutiny, style of White, who did not allow anyone to overshadow him or his a scrutiny which will create a better Library. Board and a better library." The meeting eventually turned to Hategan, Blair Kost, Rubie McCullough, other subjects: publicity for African­ and Patricia Stokes. Pinkney told the American Week, a decision to allow committee to have its report finished pages to use the public elevators at the by Thursday, February 14. Main Library to transport books, a One committee member, C.H. progress report on microfilming the Cramer, a former dean at Case West­ Business and Technology department's ern Reserve University, had written a source materials. The minutes of the

26 P A RT 2: THE ENE RG Y C RI S I S

meeting, as well as subsequent ses­ gibles taxes were the Library's two sions held over the next several major sources of income. Tax collec­ months, contain few suggestions for tions had remained steady in the last resolving the Library's "monetary several years, but costs had risen. The concerns." committee disapproved of trustees Without a director, and uncer­ continuing to ask for larger portions­ tain which trustees would con­ as much as 60 percent-of the intan­ tinue to serve or resign, the gibles taxes that had to be shared with Library's administrative staff other library systems; instead, the com­ found itself mired in its own mittee thought that the trustees should energy crisis. They advocate local levies in light of the fact seemed unable to deal that Cleveland voters had regularly with the problems approved education-related ballot they knew better issues. than anyone else. The Library board's lethargy had

0 In fact, it was the created terrible personnel problems. E ~ < advisory committee, in­ "Financially, the treatment of employ­ E Sl cluding the non-library­ ees has been deplorable," the >.. ~ 0 card holders, who made the 0 committee's report stated. It urged an ..c: 0.. first decisive recommendations immediate review of wage scales, es­ to solve the Library's problems. pecially at the lower level, where the Under Chairman Robert Bry, the Library employed about a dozen fu ll­ August, 1928 j ohn Griswold committee told the Cleveland Board time individuals at salaries below the White was 88 when of Education that they, the Board, had federal poverty index. The committee he died. He gave his pocket watch to the helped create the problem. Commit­ also criticized the board's "delays and Cleveland Public tee members were "shocked" to learn procrastination" in approving and en­ Library. the "casual circumstances" of one forcing a strong equal employment trustee's appointment and told the opportunity policy. Board to develop "written criteria and The advisory committee disap­ a selection process for future proved of the formula trustees used to trustees." cut expenses. They based reductions They were equally critical of the in services on circulation figures. Dur­ Library's board, especially its finan­ ing Curley's term, circulation was cial stewardship. Property and intan- down at the branches and Main Li-

27 ONE HUNDRED AND TWE TY-FIVE

brary, but more so at the branches. So to the committee's recommendations. trustees reduced branch budgets more They appointed a search committee drastically than the Main library's for a new director, which recruited a budget. Committee members felt the dozen applicants of whom half were Main Library's suburban users were interviewed. Only four candidates­ being subsidized unfairly by the school all of them from out of town- met the district's residents, who were paying selection committee's criteria for more taxes for less service, a situation "experience as a top executive or op­ that might eventually destroy support erating head in a large urban library for the library with the district's system with a demonstrated ability to voters. relate to a multi-ethnic community Finally, they recommended that with diversified socioeconomic and the trustees remedy the financial prob­ cultural variances." lems by submitting an operating levy By the fall of 197 4, the pace quick­ to the electorate in November, 1974, ened. In September, trustees agreed to to supplement intangible tax receipts. file for a 1.5 mill tax levy and offered The trustees were slow to respond the director's job to Ervin J. Gaines,

Summer, 1926 Effie L. Power, Supervisor of Children's Work, introduced the first Book Caravan by stocking a delivery truck with 600 volumes, a card table, four chairs, and blue and yellow beach umbrellas. She sent her mini-collection to areas not yet served by library facilities - playgrounds, parks, and orphanages. Her Caravan, pictured at longfellow School, was the forerunner of the modem bookmobile.

28 PA R T 2: T H E ENE R GY C RI SIS

It was a dark year for The Cleve­ land Public Library. The more one knew about the sleeping giant's prob­ lems, the more one realized that the long. bleak days of 1974 had been foreshadowed in the years following World War II , when Cleveland and its Library had not noticed the changes in themselves that would drastically affect their futures. Ironically, many of the financial and administrative challenges that Ervin Gaines faced in the mid-1970s For two decades, the Library's Adult Education Office experimented were unknowingly generated in the with a variety of programs to attract non-readers to branch libraries. Library's idealistic response to In the mid-1960s f ederal "war on poverty" funds subsidized develop­ Cleveland's social problems. Begin­ ment of special materials and counseling centers for functionally ning even before World War I, the illiterate adults, teenagers, and children. The results were mixed, Library began enacting an ambitious but they helped recruit a new generation of employees who changed social service agenda. That agenda the style of many branch library operations. At the S uperior branch, changed over 60 years, sometimes Stephen j ames, a Commtmity Librarian, convinced neighborhood leaving the Library with obsolete youngsters to visit the library with a Soft Rock Festival. programs. Some of the Library's first "free" director of the Minneapolis Public social services- such as bringing Library. He accepted their offer. books to patients in hospitals and For two months trustees, admin­ serving the foreign-born and the eld­ istrators, and volunteers labored to erly-were subsidized by private foun­ build support for passing the levy. dations or endowments. During the They tried to make up for time lost in 1960s and '70s, federal, state, and the spring and summer, but it was too local government underwrote a sec­ late. In November, the levy failed. By ond generation of library services to the end of the year, four trustees had combat poverty and illiteracy. left the board-Merritt, O'Malley, More frequently, however, the Li­ Livingston, and Sutler. brary did not have the resources for its

29 ONE HUNDRED AND TWE TY - F I VE

1931 Miss Eastman's original estimate that 5,000 people would use the new Main Library daily proved woefully inadequate during the Great Depression. In the early 1930s, more than 12,000 individuals a day, many of them unemployed men, read the l ibrary's newspapers in a vain search for jobs or used the library's reading rooms to stay warm during cold winter months.

social service mission. Inevitably, these programs, even when such programs once-innovative and important pro­ threatened the Library's future and gramsstrained the Library's resources ignored large and growing segments because they competed with basic of Cleveland's population. services whose costs were increasing Some skeptics wondered if the annually. Moreover, the concept of new director could reverse the librarians as social workers developed institution's decline and energize its into a stiff-necked culture that resisted staff, administrators, and trustees. the abandonment of social service

30 PART 3: COVER UPS

PART3 Cover Ups

ETRONS CROWDED THE FLIGHT brass swaggered up Superior Avenue OF STONE STEPS leading up to the under clear skies and unusually warm front door of the Main Library on weather, the Cleveland Public Library's Monday, March 17, 1975; it was the new director, the soft-spoken Ervin]. best free, public grandstand for re­ Gaines, Ph.D., double-checked the viewing the annual St. Patrick's Day agenda for an even hotter trustees' parade. While noisy bands of political meeting scheduled for the following day. He suspected the session would be as raucous as the parade. Dr. Gaines, a white-haired, grand­ fatherly figure at 58, had been the Library's director for less than six months, and was thought by trustees to be a novice at protecting himself, trustees, and the Library from the city's political snipers. Despite his battle ribbons- from 1964 to 1974 Dr. Gaines had rescued and rebuilt the Minneapolis Public Library and during World War II he had served on At the opening of the new Fulton Avenue branch library, part of a submarine in the Pacific-trustees Ervin]. Gaines' branch rebuilding program, the director addressed believed their veteran library admin­ the media. His policy on the press? "I think we will be well advised istrator was leading them into a hope­ to conduct our affairs in a fish bowl with no shades drawn." less local donnybrook.

31 O NE HU N DRED A N D TW EN TY - FIVE

Several days earlier, Dr. Gaines seemed to hand Library critics free ammunition by voluntarily giving Cleveland newspaper reporters cop­ ies of the Graves Report, prepared for the trustees by Catherine Graves, Head of Branches. The report recom­ mended, among many cost-saving suggestions, closing several dilapi­ dated branch libraries and replacing them with a fewer number of new buildings. For some Cleveland neigh­ borhoods-which had been steadily losing residents, homes, stores, banks, and churches for more than a quarter of a century-the prospect of losing their local library was too much. The cry of protest had been loud and anguished. Some neighborhood political lead­ ers-and even, Gaines thought, some Library staff members-had inter­ 1938 preted the report as advocating the Librarian Helen Focke (right) counseled Cleveland residents who found it difficult to feed their families during The Depression, but reduction of branch services without hard times eventually decimated Library services. Reduced tax collections forced Miss Eastman to borrow money to keep the comparable cuts at the Main Library system open. Nevertheless, she was forced to cut salaries by 10 downtown. Although inaccurate, the percent and reduce staff employment from full- to three-quarters time. Book purchases, maintenance, and repairs were reduced or interpretation re-ignited ancient deferred. Some school branches and station libraries were perma­ Cleveland rivalries between elitist nently closed. The remainder opened for only 60 percent of their pre-Depression schedule. Regular branches closed part of each "downtown" interests and populist working day. For the first time in 50 years, the Main Library closed "neighborhood" concerns. on Sundays and holidays. In 1938, Miss Eastman retired after almost 50 years of service. She was 72. She died in 1963. Board members thought Dr. Gaines underestimated the potential for those rivalries to embroil the Cleve­ land Public Library in dangerous

32 PART 3: COVER UPS

political skirmishes. In 1975, the ten­ marched past the Main Library, a boy­ sions between "downtown" and ish figure as well known as then­ "neighborhood" interests were ex­ Mayor Ralph Perk but better known pertly manipulated by local politi­ than Cuyahoga County's Auditor, cians like Dennis]. Kucinich, who George V. Voinovich, who rode in an had recently been elected Clerk of the open car driven by a chauffeur with Municipal Courts, the first step in a green hair. long range plan to occupy the Mayor's Furthermore, it was from these office in City Hall. green platoons of hand-waving local Kucinich was easily recognized in political leaders that Library trustees the St. Patrick's Day parade as it were trying to recruit members for a broad-based Citizens Advisory Com­ mittee that would help generate sup­ port for a 1.5 mill levy to be placed on the ballot in November. The levy would raise property taxes in neigh­ borhoods which had defeated the same proposal in November, 1974. Several trustees were concerned that no one would join the Advisory Committee; committee members might have-to defend the branch closings proposed in the Graves Report. Trustees felt Dr. Gaines should have kept the report confidential until the Citizens Com­ mittee had a chance to evaluate its December, 1941 recommendations. The United States' declaration of war fol­ It was an era of cover-ups. At lowing the japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had an immediate impact on Library opera­ every level ofgovernmentin the 1970s, tions. for the first time since World War I, it seemed that standard operating pro­ girls were hired as pages and the number of people using the Library declined. Never­ cedure was to withhold controversial theless, readers still visited the Library's reports from the public, and hope no sociology department seeking an explana­ tion for world events. disgruntled insider would leak them to the press. On that same March

33 ONE H UND R ED AND TWENTY-FIVE

morning in Washington, D.C., Presi­ preoccupied board members. Murray dent Gerald Ford, trying to restore Davidson, a trustee from Shaker the integrity of the White House after Heights involved in the rebuilding of Richard Nixon's resignation, found University Circle, suggested that the himself answering questions about Library increase its public relations reports that the Central Intelligence effort to avoid the bad publicity gen­ Agency had secretly plotted the assas­ erated by the Graves Report. sination of foreign heads of state. Davidson's suggestion, applauded To assess the political damage of by some of his colleagues, annoyed disclosing the Graves Report and lec­ Dr. Gaines. A formal gentleman with ture the new director on Cleveland's impeccable manners, the director did political realities, Library trustees not criticize Davidson's suggestion at planned to meet on Tuesday as a Com­ the meeting. Instead, on Wednesday mittee of the Whole, a parliamentary morning, he wrote the entire board a device they used in the early 1970s to three-page memorandum entitled discuss controversial topics privately "PUBLIC RELATIONS." The docu­ without fear of being quoted in The ment was both Dr. Gaines' defense of Cleveland Press or The Plain Dealer. his release of the Graves Report and Remembering Library trustees' a passionate declaration of how he meetings during the 1970s, one Plain planned to administer the Cleveland Dealer reporter recalled a decade later Public Library. that his journalistic colleagues "used to elbow for space in the small board THROUGHOUT HIS 12 YEARS AS room to catch the verbal fireworks on DIRECTOR, the Columbia Univer­ race and patronage when such issues sity graduate who held degrees in as hiring policies and contract awards literature, came to write trustees many were discussed." The Graves Report long, carefully reasoned, bluntly­ promised similar pyrotechnics. worded memoranda. They tested On the day after the parade, when some board members' patience. trustees had taken their seats in the After a year of his leadership, some Main Library's fourth floor board trustees asked the director to consult room and closed the doors, Dr. Gaines' with them on a personal basis rather suspicions were confirmed. His "pre­ than write them any more memos. mature" release of the Graves Report According to Dr. Gaines, one board

34 PART 3: COVER UPS

Puf, ·h ·,1 Jm MA P COMP.-\ NY, Inc. :-.1\\ Ytlltl\ lll\, '· \ .

......

I"{ I

0 E... ~ E .}i 1:> 0 0 ..c c. 1942 The Cleveland Public Library's extensive map collection was a source of information for Clevelanders following the progress of hostilities in World War II.

35 ONE HUNDRED AND T'V. ENTY-FIVE

member even said that written reports from the director "were not desired as tools for building better bridges of communications." Gaines thanked the trustees for their advice and continued writing memoranda: "I see no harm in them .... They help to nail down some record of the daily history of the Li­ brary and some insight into the way your Director is thinking about mat­ ters important and otherwise. Also since the structure and conduct of Board meetings sometimes washes over matters that seem to me to be important, I find that I can more effec­ tively get messages to you on paper." As he planned, his memoranda to the board have become a remarkable archive that explain in his own words the strategy he developed for restoring the Cleveland Public Library to its former position of national leadership. One of his techniques, according to Lee C. Howley Jr. (wearing a ligl1t suit and darh tie), tlten president long-time trustee Thomas D. Corrigan, of tl1e Library's trustees, escorted Mrs. joan Mondale, wife of Vice was to try and isolate the Library, its President Walter Mondale, through the Main Library's completely trustees, and the director from the renovated Brett Hall. Gaines converted the austere fonner reading acrimonious political atmosphere that room into a reference center and etllivened the vast space by surrounded the building on more oc­ commissioning three new murals including "Public Square," above casions than St. Patrick's Day 1975. tl1 e south portal, by Cleveland artist Robert Jergens. Behind As part of that effort, Dr. Gaines Howley's left shoulder is Marian Huttner, deputy director during would not employ "cover-ups": "I be­ Gaines' tenure. lieve that there was no way to keep the [Graves] report bottled up," he wrote

36 P A R T 3 : COV E R U PS

trustees after their meeting as a Com­ garded with deep suspicion because mittee of the Whole. "Leadership re­ of its being withheld so long from the quires us to lay out a proposal and let general public while being discussed it be riddled with criticism... .If the by a privileged few ... Behind-the­ proposed change is good, it will pre­ scenas maneuvering to prevent rude vail; if it is bad it not only will, it ought surprises simply won't work because to, perish." it is behind-the-scenes maneuvering Nor did Gaines believe that the that everyone expects and is on the report could have been secretly shared alert for... The CIA is having its prob­ with the Citizens Advisory Commit­ lems on the same score right now. tee. "It would have been gossiped "The public's business belongs to about, mangled and distorted," he the public," he told trustees. "I would wrote, "and when it did surface into even go so far as to suggest that Com­ public view it would have been re- mittee of the Whole meetings be open to the public as a means of allaying suspicion." Gaines opposed trustee Davidson's suggestion that the Library increase its public relations efforts. "Any diver­ sion of funds to such work will mean that some funds will not be available for improvement of the library," he wrote. "The institution needs so much care and attention that I would like to see us bend every effort and put every dollar to work in building the Library's December, 1945 In the years following World War 11, the Library built an extensive books, personnel and services. collection of non-book, non-printed materials-a trend that contin­ "If there is anything to criticize ues to the present. The Musical Arts Association donated 80 albums from the Cleveland Orchestra's collection of classical music. Exam­ about the Library's recent history," he ining the gift (from left to right) were Rudolph Ringwall, assistant continued, "it is that there has been conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, Clarence S. Metcalf, director of the Library from 1941 to 1950, Vladimir Golschman, a guest scant resemblance between what the conductor of the Orchestra, Thomas L. Sidlo, president of the Library said about itself and what was Musical Arts Association, and Carl ]. Vosburgh, the Orchestra's manager. really happening. I am of the opinion that one of the reasons that the Li-

37 ONE HUNDRED At\D TWE N TY-FIVE

brary is in trouble is that the deception nallibrary politics were equally criti­ was transparent; there is great cyni­ cal: "There are deep schisms within cism and bitterness within the Library the Library," he wrote, "and there is as a result." destructive competition that is most If trustees thought an apprecia­ injurious to the total welfare of the tion of external political realities was institution. Staff members do not trust important for the future of the Li­ their supervisors; supervisors do not brary, Dr. Gaines told trustees inter- trust each other; the Library Board is regarded with the deepest suspicion as hostile to the best interests of the Library ... This is the climate in which we are operating. That climate must be changed if the Library is to thrive." Finally, there was a paradox in the Library's operations that Dr. Gaines did not believe the trustees fully ap­ preciated: "The Cleveland Public Li­ brary is very well financed as city libraries go," he wrote, "and any rea­ sonably sharp critic knows this." In 1975 the Library received about $9 million annually in local taxes and self-generated revenues. Of that amount 77 percent was spent for per­ sonnel and 10 percent for books. The 1950 remainder was in fixed costs-utili­ During Clarence Metcalrs tenure as director, the Library expanded its social services, first begun with World War I veterans. With ties, supplies, vehicles, maintenance, endowment income from the Frederick W. and Henryett Slocum and repair. judd Fund, a bequest of $450,000 was designated for serving sick and disabled residents. Specially trained librarians delivered books By Dr. Gaines' standards, a well­ to residents confined to their homes or recuperating at 30 local managed library should spend no hospitals. At St. John's Hospital, for example, librarians pushed a book cart through hospital corridors, visiting patients in their beds more than 70 percent of its budget for and helping them select books for recreational reading. By 1969, the personnel and 15 percent for books. judd Service to Shut-Ins distributed more than 60,000 books to 1 ,200 readers. As a result, Dr. Gaines believed the Cleveland Library's operations were

38 PA R T 3: COVE R U P S

"disproportionately heavy in person­ ful soldiering on the job, retaliation nel and light in books." through theft and deliberate careless­ "The Library's plea for money is n ess, and the creation of an not as sound just now as it looks," he unpleasant, even 'nasty,' working wrote. "Our problem is that we waste environment." money dreadfully in unnecessary and Five days later, in still another obsolete practices and programs- in­ memorandum to the board, the sup­ cluding the branch library posed novice in Cleveland politics system ... The key question to keep proposed a way to eliminate perceived asking ourselves is why is our track rivalries between the "downtown" record so poor when we have so much Main Library and "neighborhood" going for us." branches. For the next 12 years, Dr. Gaines Dr. Gaines believed the competi­ energetically-some thought ruth­ tion between Main Library and the lessly- tried to find the answer to branches "probably took roots in the that question, recording his search in intangibles tax, and its growth is en­ bold memoranda. couraged by the intense parochialism Thirty days after his memoran­ of Cleveland neighborhoods," he dum on "PUBLIC RELATIONS," wrote. "I am sure that I cannot reverse Gaines took his first step to remove the flow of history but I do have a trustees from the day-to-day adminis­ suggestion as to how to deal with it in tration of the Library. He convinced the up-coming levy campaign." trustees to make salary increments While Dr. Gaines was prepared to within a pay grade automatic rather live within the Library's existing $9 than the board voting on each one: million annual budget if voters de­ "Automatic increases are processed feated the levy a second time, he did easily and they eliminate a decision believe the income from an added 1.5 making hazard from the board's mills would be adequate to achieve all agenda, leaving it free to set policy the objectives of a good neighbor­ rather than to administer budgets." hood program-"adequatestaff, books "I cannot stress frequently and rehabilitation or rebuilding.. .for enough," he wrote, "that personnel as far ahead as I can foresee." practices that raise hostility levels are To dispel the idea that money for very expensive in lost efficiency, will- local property taxes would be siphoned

39 ON E H U NDR E D A N D TW ENT Y- FIV E

downtown for suburban patrons, Dr. is for local use and intangibles money Gaines proposed to "earmark all the is for downtown and area-wide ser­ funds from the property tax for branch vice. I think the man in the street libraries and other extension services would understand this and be content within the city, leaving the proceeds with it if we were scrupulous in our from the intangibles tax to develop accounting." Main Library and the administrative Ever mindful that "political solu­ overhead associated with the entire tions" were the trustees' territory, Dr. operation ... .In this way we can dem­ Gaines offered to let the board or its onstrate to the public that local money advisory committee appear to be the author of the new budget policy: "If you like this idea," he wrote, "we can make it the first public announce­ ment by the Citizens Committee." With both his political brilliance and generosity duly recorded for his­ tory in one of his memoranda, Dr. Gaines proceeded to tell trustees it would be their fault if the strategy failed: "I also plead with you not to delay the appointment of that com­ mittee. Time will run out on us if we do not move soon." The trustees agreed. They ap­ pointed the committee which an­ nounced the bookkeeping policy and 1957 By the 1950s, the Main Library's collection had tripled in size, began to build support for the levy in overwhelming the downtown building. As part of the Group Plan Cleveland neighborhoods. surrounding the Mall, the Library was prevented from adding floors to the existing building, nor could it expand into adjacent streets. A An additional 1.5 mills would succession of Library directors was forced to rent storage space in generate $4.5 million annually. De­ nearby buildings until The Plain Dealer offered to sell its six-story building immediately east of the Main Library on East Sixth Street. spite his bookkeeping strategy, Dr. In November, 1957, Cleveland voters approved a $3 million bond Gaines proposed to spend the money issue to purchase and renovate the structure, which accommodated the Library's needs until the 1980s. throughout the system in four major categories:

40 PART 3: COVER UPS

Margaret Mitchell read 190 books during the summer of 1977, making her one of seven outstanding readers to participate in the Library's summer reading club, a legacy of Linda Eastmat1's Children's Library League begun 80 years earlier.

$1.3 million to raise salaries: "lt its commitments as a major research would place the beginning salary of library." professionals at or near $10,500 ... on $1.5 million for neighborhood a par with Dayton, the highest in the branches: "to rehabilitate and mod­ state, but still leave it well down in ernize buildings that have long range the list of major city libraries in the possibilities for retention; replace nation." buildings that are inefficient, over­ $800,000 to increase book pur­ sized, undersized or poorly located; chases: " ... $2 per capita. With this acquire land for parking." level of investment over a period of $800,000 for new systems and several years all the known deficien­ equipment: "modernize the circula­ cies in the collections could be re­ tion control system; computerize all paired, and Cleveland could maintain business operations; modernize all

41 ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE

1960 For more than a decade, the Cleveland Public Library's Office of Adult Education, originally headed by Fern long, provided special services to Cleveland's elderly citizens. Miss Long, who would eventually become deputy director, organized the Live Long and Like It Club, the first club of its kind in a public library. By 1960, the club had more than 900 members, many of whom met weekly at the Library.

equipment; rehabilitate the collections library service. "Can the Library in­ through rebinding and relocation; and dulge in non-book and non-reading obtain and operate book depository activity if such activity diverts funds space to relieve the space pressure in from books?" Dr. Gaines asked the the Main Library." board. "Can the Library indulge the Dr. Gaines believed the additional luxury of rare books and special col­ revenues would stabilize Library fi­ lections at the expense of bread-and­ nances through 1980. butter items? Can the Library hand­ But what if the levy failed? carry books to hospital patients and The director proposed to reduce shut-ins if it does not provide the the personnel budget and raise book books in sufficient numbers and vari­ expenditures by streamlining Library ety to meet demand? Can the Library operations. Bibliotherapy was an ex­ maintain all its departments and pensive legacy from another era of branches intact?"

42 PART 3 : CO VE R U PS

Dr. Gaines did not answer the wrote trustees, "I think they can be questions directly. He let the specter characterized generally as springing motivate the board's new president, from a habit of improvising rather Lee C. Howley, Jr., Library trustees, than planning. System has been piled their advisory committee members, upon system, producing a confusion the staff, and the public, especially of activities and programs most diffi­ Thomas F. Campbell, Ph.D. , all of cult to control and orchestrate. The whom were working for passage of Library will benefit from having one the levy. By October, under Howley person responsible for sorting out the and Dr. Gaines' leadership, the cam­ pieces and helping us to rearrange paign appeared to be headed for a them." resounding victory. In the last few When it came to sorting and rear­ weeks before the election, Dr. Gaines ranging libraries, Dr. Gaines had a proposed to add an associate director favorite expert: Marian Huttner, who of planning and research, who would had served Gaines as the assistant in allow him to spend the new income charge of public service departments quickly and efficiently. at the Main Library in Minneapolis. "While the Library suffers from "I would have made her chief," many difficulties just now," Dr. Gaines Dr. Gaines wrote trustees, "but the incumbent in the post had many years of seniority and I saw no reason to unseat him, although in actual prac­ tice all important innovations in Min­ neapolis during my tenure came from Miss Huttner.. .she is an exemplary librarian, knowledgeable, energetic, incredibly fast and inventive. She is also loyal to institutional objectives."

ONNOVEMBER4, 1975, THE LEVY Ervin]. Gaines convinced trustees to become major patrons of PASSED. A week later, the board Cleveland artists. Patrons at the new Glenville branch are greeted raised Library staff salaries by 20 per­ by handsome wooden heads carved and painted by Cleveland artist cent (as Dr. Gaines had promised), A lan Pucell. and hired Miss Huttner. While Dr.

43 O NE HU N DR E D AND T WENTY- FI VE

be solving historic problems but charting a new course. Years of Dr. Gaines' memoranda document their difficulties. Meddlesome trustees: "We have identified specific instances of Board members' engaging in privy commu­ nication with staff on substantive is­ sues without bringing the matters to the Director's attention ... These prac­ tices are disconcerting and they tend to cause fear and disharmony." 1967 Since the beginning of the 20th century, when William Howard Brett Former directors: " ... the effects of employed 200 well-educated assistants, Library operations had years of administrative neglect within been a blizzard of three-by-five cards that forced professional librarians to spend countless hours in tedious clerk work. One of the the Library are very grievous." first attempts to streamline the process was the use of microfilm Unhappy building engineers: "We machines to record books borrowed from the Library. have canceled their traditional 6-day week and placed them on a 5-day Gaines continued to be the figure the schedule [eliminating costly over­ public associated with the Library's time]. They are angry and resentfuL" tum-around, Library staff members Over-stuffed branches: "Miss knew that without Miss Huttner, Dr. Huttner's preliminary examination .. . Gaines could not have enacted his confirms ... branches are overstaffed .. . rigorous agenda for rebuilding the their book collections are heavily Cleveland Public Library. Behind her weighted with obsolete material." knit suits, dignified hats, and grand­ Lazy department heads: The di­ motherly image, Miss Huttner's col­ rector "does not have enough work to leagues remember a tough-minded, keep him busy, but neither does the strong-willed, intensely loyal enforcer work at hand get done properly and of Dr. Gaines' revitalization program. on time .... we expect to have his office Together they set out to accom­ exchanged with that of Miss plish Dr. Gaines' program so that in Huttner's .... " five years, when the levy was due for Dysfunctional computers: "The renewal, the Library would no longer fundamental error-and it is the third

44 PART 3: COVER UPS

time the Library has made such an Yet, Dr. Gaines and Miss Huttner error-was to purchase a computer could also report both small battles without first doing the systems won and large projects underway. analysis." Within their own office they had re­ Painful statistics: In a survey of duced the number of secretaries from urban libraries, "We ranked 3rd in five to three, reduced the telephone per capita support, 20th in per capita operator staff from four to two with circulation, but 41st in workload per new equipment, reduced technical staff member." In a survey of Ohio processing by six jobs through work libraries, "Cincinnati circulated more rearrangement and the elimination of books from about the same number of redundant tasks, replaced professional outlets ... using 183 fewer employees librarians in jobs that could be per­ with total operating expenses 12 per­ formed by efficient clerks, eliminated cent under ours." 40-year-old inequities in the staffs pension program, reduced turnover and the use of sick leave, created an Extensions Loans Department, and established a government documents collection. In the summer of 1976, the direc­ tor and Miss Huttner hired a Case Western Reserve University student who discovered the Library was using 1,000 forms, of which at least 300 were obsolete. Dr. Gaines ordered the number of forms reduced to no more than 300-"the probable number re­ quired to do the Library's business." Most importantly, in the neigh­ By the mid-1970s, Andrew Carnegie's branch libraries needed borhoods construction was underway extensive renovation. Carnegie West on Fulton Road was too large on three new branch libraries and for a community that had lost population, circulation, and staff three more were being remodeled. Cleveland architects Koster & Associates renovated t11e building, But Dr. Gaines and Marian Huttner including a new reading room under the historic artglass skylight. were not entirely satisfied. By the sum-

45 ONE HU!\DRED A D TWE TY-FIVE

mer of 1976, they had become impa­ proach to reform and reorganization tient with their own progress. Dr. can only be effective if the governing Gaines convinced the trustees to pro­ body agrees to let it happen or orders mote Miss Huttner to deputy director it to happen." and to allow them to accelerate their The board acquiesced. With trust­ reforms in a more ruthless manner. ees' unwritten approval, the director The director proposed to speed the and his new deputy increased their process "by more authoritarian demands on staff. By the end of 1979, means." Writing to the board, Dr. a full year before the critical 1.5 mill Gaines explained that in "a bureau­ levy was scheduled for renewal, the cratic society... the authoritarian ap- countless little changes had begun to produce large improvements. For the first time in a generation, system­ wide circulation had increased by 10 percent, but most significantly by 14 percent at neighborhood branches. The whopping increase was due in part to the fact that in four short years, Dr. Gaines and Miss Huttner could point to 14 new or renovated branches completed or in progress. That same year, Dr. Gaines-over the stafPs objections-convinced the board to enter the field of radio broadcasting by acquiring public 1968 broadcasting station WBOE from During the 1960s, library circulation figures continued to decline the Cleveland Public School Board. -a trend that began during World War II. Circulation hit a high point during the Depression. In 1935, it was 7.6 million. By 1955, At year end, the board's request for a it was only 4.3 million; by 1970, it was3.2 million. The decrease was broadcast license to be transferred to especially severe in the system's 36 branches. The number of branch library card holders had fallen by 30 percent, books in circulation by the Library was still pending before more than 60 percent-especially among young readers. To reverse the Federal Communications Com­ the downward slide, concerned staff members tried to attract youthful patrons with popular culture. Librarian Vilma Krusko mission, but the trustees were con­ (fourth from left) offered long-playing records in the Main Library's vinced that once on the air the Library Stevenson Room. would add an historic new dimension

46 PART 3: COVER UPS

ing with only 1 mill. Sixty-five percent of the voters agreed. With the public's clear mandate, Dr. Gaines and Miss Huttner prepared for another round of prQgress. Five years later new branches to­ taled eight, remodeled branches, 10. A ninth new branch was planned. All branch book collections were stocked with new titles and new editions of older books. "Tired, shabby and faded books have been retired," Dr.Gaines wrote, "and the fresher texts are draw­ ing patrons to the library." Neighbor­ hood branches were provided with 1969 microfilm catalogs and with terminals On its 100th anniversary, the Cleveland Public Library's collection. included 3,216,691 books. john Griswold White's collection had linking them to the Main Library's 115,000 volumes. The catalog required to document the collection had expanded from a single 1,400-page volume to a large room on computerized card catalog. the first floor ofthe Main Library filled with rows and rows of narrow Dr. Gaines introduced comic wooden file drawers containing millions of three-by-five cards. The books in large quantities despite staff main catalog was supplemented by dozens of smaller catalogs in each Main Library department. In many ways, the over-stuffed skepticism about "whether they were catalog room symbolized unwieldy operations. Books took months worthy and socially useful." Dr. Gaines to process and were often placed on shelves weeks before multiple copies of their cards required for cross referencing arrived on the was pleased when they attracted chil­ Main Library's first floor. For a short period in the 1970s, librarians dren in large numbers "who have not closed certain portions of the collection to the public, abandoning Brett's "open shelves, open minds" policy, a 90-year-old tradition. previously used the Library." Resolving the paper jam would be a major problem facing directors in the years ahead. Films, which had been used to draw children to libraries, were re­ placed with book activities. The Co­ of service and increase its reach and lumbia University literature graduate influence. thought he detected "a subtle shift in In 1980, Dr. Gaines convinced public taste and the tedium of pictures trustees that the Library did not need is stimulating a return to the printed to renew the entire 1.5 millage, but word." Dr. Gaines was not a fan of could continue reform and rebuild- videotapes.

47 O NE HU N DR E D A ND T W EN TY - FIVE

Dr. Gaines died, injune 1986. His tenure ran concurrently with a period of great turmoil in Cleveland politics. The Library's progress, in the face of other public institutions' decline, tends to validate Dr. Gaines' early strategy to isolate the Library from local politics. Ironically, the success of his effort was best illustrated by debates that never took place. Early in Dr. Gaines' regime-the fall of 1977-three Febmary, 1969 Cleveland politicians-Ralph Perk, On the first day of the Library's second century, trustees appointed Dennis Kucinich, and Edward Feighan Edward A. D'Allesandro director. He began his career at the Cleve­ land Public Library as a page when he was 14. A graduate of Brett's (all St. Patrick's Day parade regulars) Library School at Western Reserve University, D' Allesandro was the were running for Mayor of Cleveland. first male assistant branch librarian in the 1940s, and headed the book repair division during the 1950s. He held a series of manage­ The men only agreed on one thing. If ment positions, including business manager and deputy director. He they were ever to debate each other was popular among employees who thought his lifelong knowledge of the Library would help revitalize operations. Nine months after publicly in Cleveland neighborhoods his appointment, D'Allesandro suffered a major heart attack, which (which they never did) there was only forced his resignation in january, 1970 after 40 years of service. one neutral place for those political encounters: the Library's neighbor­ Despite service increases, Dr. hood branches. Gaines continued to reduce full-time From thatcarefullynurturedneu­ employment and computerize library trality, the Cleveland Public Library tasks. In 1985, Dr. Gaines hosted an emerged in the 1980s stronger than it international conference of urban li­ had been in a generation. brary directors. Despite the fact that After Dr. Gaines' retirement, the cancer and pernicious anemia had entire board began a search for his reduced his energy, he addressed the successor. Rebuilding the system group with characteristic candor: "A largely was completed, with the ex­ soft heart may not be a help to the ception of a single branch library for librarian in making good operational the Lake Shore community and solv­ decisions." ing the problem of an overcrowded

48 PART 3: COVER UPS

Main Library and Annex. plete the rebuilding, reintegrate the Trustees believed that Dr. Gaines' Library into the larger community, success no longer required that the and chart a direction that would so­ Library isolate itself from politics; the lidify the institution's regained repu­ institution now bargained from a po­ tation £or leadership innovation. sition of strength. For example, the They found that person in Marilyn Library could negotiate the end of a Gell Mason. Building on the solid long-standing dispute with the Cuya­ accomplishments of Ervin Gaines, hoga County Public Library over the she has innovated in ways her prede­ division of intangibles taxes. Trustees cessors never could have imagined. could give up a portion of those The Cleveland Public Library cel­ revenues without fear of financial ebrates its l25th anniversary secure complications. in the knowledge that it is equipped Trustees looked fora director who with a vision and the resources to could in fact negotiate the terrain of meet the challenges ahead in the 21st Cleveland politics, who would com- century.

1993 In 1983, a book dealer told Alice N. Loranth, head of the Library's Fine Arts and Special Collections, about a rare journal by Francis Hall. The manuscript turned out to be the first American eyewitness account ofjapan's customs, trade, and commerce after the country opened certain cities to the West in 1854. After evaluating the journal's contents and verifying its authenticity, Mrs. Loranth, pictured here with the manuscript, arranged for its publication in 1993 by the Princeton University Press, with editing and annotation by F.G. Notehelfer. The book,]apan Through American Eyes, is the Library's fifth major scholarly publication since 1970 and a remarkable addition to its research collection and the john G. White Collection of Orientalia.

49 O N E H U NDR E D A N D TWENTY - FIVE

Epilogue

FORTY PICTURES AND 10,000 energies and intellects on the most WORDS have imposed certain limits important issues facing the Library at upon this anecdotal history com­ any given moment. memorating the Cleveland Public The most familiar names from the Library's 125th anniversary. To recall first 100years- William H. Brettand a few critical moments from the last Linda A. Eastman - are matched by 25 years, and sketch key milestones two from the last 25 years-Ervin). from the previous century, required a Gaines and Marilyn Gell Mason. They narrow focus - the tenures of the were all strong personalities who have Library's individual directors. left indelible fingerprints on the There have been three in the last library's institutional history. This 25 years, only eight in the previous commemorative booklet attempts to 100 years. The nature of the job present traces of their handiwork that required the incumbents to focus their help illuminate the Library's history but also the directors themselves. Despite their individuality, the directors have been driven by one philosophy-maintaining unlimited, free public access to the richest pos­ sible collection of information. Brett called it "open shelves, open minds" and built a vast system of neighbor­ hood libraries on that foundation. Miss Eastman refined the concept - especially among children-and built a great home for a research collection at the Main Library in downtown Cleveland. In the 1970s and 1980s, A young reader enjoys a pretzel and special baseball cap at a Dr. Gaines rebuilt Brett's system Cleveland Indians game- her reward for reading books during ensuring all Greater Clevelanders' lazy summer months. access to new or renovated neigh~or-

50 E PIL OGUE

hood buildings and collections. Mrs. frequ.ently give directors their best Mason transformed Brett's "open ideas apd execute them brilliantly and shelves" into electronic pathways tirelessly. and added a major wing to Miss Third, the Friends of the Cleve­ Eastman's landmark to protect what land Public Library who help rally had become a world famous research public support and provide special collection. On the Library's 125th funds for projects that administrators anniversary, Mrs. Mason has made of a public institution cannot justify Cleveland's collection not only acces­ from public funds. sible to local neighborhoods, but the Finally, there are the voters of rest of the world. And the rest of the Cleveland. As this booklet demon­ world's library collections are now strates, they have consistently sup­ accessible to Cleveland's neighbor­ ported their public library through hoods through the Library's pioneer­ turbulent times at a level that other ing electronics. city libraries can only envy. Yet all of the Cleveland Public In this booklet, directors take Library's directors would insist that center stage. Trustees, staff, friends, they were indebted to four, largely and voters make cameo appearances. anonymous, groups: But it is to these four essential groups First, the boards of trustees who that this booklet is dedicated. The had the confidence to hire them and Cleve~and Public Library would not to endure the inevitable tensions that be celebrat.ing such an auspicious arose between strong administrators birthday without 125 years of their and politically-sensitiv~ stewards of a extraordinary service and support. community treasure. Second, and most important, the Library's loyal staff, many of whom answered countless questions from the public long before the directors were hired and continued to do so long after they left. Staff members

51 CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY DIRECTORS 1969 - Present

D'Alessandro, Edward 2/69- 1/70 Curley, Walter M. 9/70- 1 /74 Long, Fern (Actingllnterim) 2/70- 8/70; 2/74- 10/74 Gaines, Ervin j. ll/74- 12/85 Huttner, Marian A.(lnterim) 1/86- 7/86 Holman, Norman (Interim) 8/86 Mason, Marilyn Gell 9/86 - present

CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1969 - Present

Asseff, Carl F., Dr. 1976- 1983 Kelley, Michael V. 1983 - 1990 Battisti, Gloria]. 1970 Kiousis, Thomasj.,jr. 1970- 1977 Burkes, Caesar D. 1991- present Klonowski, Stanley 1947- 1970 Coles, Elizabeth 1987 - present Livingston, George 1973- 1974 Corrigan, Thomas D. 1985- present Merritt, Robert L. 1968 - 1974 Crockett, Stella 1960- 1967 Novak, David M. 1980- 1991 Davidson, Murray M. 1969 - 1976 O'Malley, Neil R. 1970- 1976 DeGrandis, Paulj.,jr. 1981- 1993 Petrulis, Robert C. 1992 - present Dixon, Ardelia 1980- 1987 Pittman, Marie 1972- 1976 Fudge, Marcia L. 1987- 1989 Powell, Lynnie G. 1991- present Gardner, john N. 1966- 1972 Rak,juliana T. 1977 - 1983 (Formerly Baumgartner, john) Raymond, Rev. Dr. Lewis 1974- 1985 Graham, Florence M. 1962 - 1969 Rowan, Rev. Dr. Albert T. 1975- 1977 Hannah, Rev. William 1975 Sargent, Lois H. 1963- 1969 Heard, Arthur j. 1964- 1970 Schorr, Alvin 1993 - present Howley, Lee C.,jr. 1974- 1981 Sutler, Dr. Martin R. 1970 - 1974 Hunter, Frances 1990- present Thompson, Lockwood 1960- 1967; jamison, Marjorie 1946 - 1970 1990- 1992 jones, Stephanie Tubbs 1986- 1991 Trumbo, George W. 1979 - 1986 Kahl, john]., Jr. 1977- 1980 Wills, Cheryle A. 1975- 1980

52 "A Friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature." -Emerson

This book would not have been possible without the support of the Friends of the Cleveland Public Library, whose thousands of volunteers have worked tirelessly over the past 38 years to provide Library users with amenities great and small.

PRESIDENT Robert F. Pincus

VICE PRESIDENT Ranelle A. Gamble

SECRETARY Rita W. Buchanan

TREASURER Michael Hoffman THE CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY

125TH A\\IVERSARY COMMITTEE

Ho~wt' CHAIIPfRSO\S

GOVER~OR GEORGE V. \'01\'0VICH 1\HYOR MICHAEL R. WHITE

Co-CHAIIPfRSO\S

POll\ BRU~ER R:\~EUE A. GA.\lBlE lEE C. HO\ \lE'l ,JR THE CLEVELAND PUBLI C liBR ARY PR OGRAM 125TH ANNIVERSARY COMMITTEE PR£5JDI\G ...... ROBERT f. Pl\ CLS, PRESJDE\T JOSEPHINE R. ABADY LOLITA M. McDAVID, M.D. fRIE \ OS OF THE QMI.A.'\D PuBLIC LIBRAR'\ MONTE AHUJA HONORABLE ANN McMANAMON DR. MARVIN A. McMICKLE CARL F. ASSEFF. M.D. INVOCAliON ...... REV. KE'NTH CHALKER, PASTOR DOUGLAS N. BARR ROBERT P. MADISON GLORIA J. BATTISTI. M.S.W., L.I.S.W. MORTON L. MANDEL f iRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH DR. ROBERT P. BERGMAN ROBERT A. MAYER JAMES S. BINGA Y PAT MEAD JUDGE PATRICIA ANN BLACKMON ROBERT L. MERRITT A SPEOAL TRIBUTE TO THE CLEVUAND PuBliC LIBRARY...... HELGA SANDBURG, AUTHOR RENA J. BLUMBERG SENATOR HOWARD M. METZENBAUM ALBERT I. BOROWITZ SAM H. MILLER COUNTY COMMISSIONER MARY 0 . BOYLE STEVEN A. MINTER JOHN G. BREEN A. MALACHI MIXON. Ill DINNER RALPH BRODY. PH.D. REV. OTIS MOSS. JR STEVE D. BULLOCK ELIZABETH G. NOR WEB ANNE H. BURTON THOMAS M. O' DONNELL GR£ETI\GS FR()'.I THE fRll\OS OF ANN CALKINS HARVEY G. OPPMANN ROBERT P1-.:cus, PRESIDENT STATE REPRESENTATI VE JANE CAMPBELL NICK ORLANDO. SR. THE CLMI.A.\D PuBLIC LIBRARY ...... F. THOMAS F. CAMPBELL LINDA PAINE fRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY CAROL CARTWRIGHT NACY PANZICA DAVID CERONE DR. SAMMIE CAMPBELL PARRISH DR . KENNETH W. CHALKER JOSE A. PENA WELCOME ...... MARIL YN GELL MAsoN, DIRECTOR ROBERT G. CHESH IER CHRIS N. PERRY CLMLAND PUBLIC liBRARY DR . ARMOND E. COHEN KERMIT J. PIKE ROBERT CONRAD THE MOST REV . ANTHONY M. PILLA JOHN C. CORFIAS KEN PINKERTON GREETINGS FROM THE STATE OF OHIO ...... f RANCES HUNTER, PRESIDENT JAMES M. DELANEY BETTY K. PINKNEY. ESQ. MD ClEVELAND PuBLIC LIBRARY, BOARD OF ANNE MARIE DIEDERICH. O.S.U.. Ph.D. STATE REPRESENTATIVE C. J. PRENTISS GRUTI:.GS FR()'.I THE QMI.A.\D PuBliC LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES TRUSTEES CHARLOTTET. DURANT AGNAR PYTIE JAY B. FAIRFIELD ALBERT B. RATNER JOSE C. FELICIANO REV. DR. LEWIS RAYMOND MESSAGE FR()'.1 THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNffiD STATES ...... l EE C. HOWlEY, jR., PRESIDENT LES ROBERTS JOHN J. FERCHILL NORTH COAST CABLE Co. HONORABLE ERIC D. FINGERHlJf HELGA SANDBURG PATRICK B. FLANAGAN THEODORE SANDE RICHARD FLEISCHMAN DR. A. BENEDICT SCHNEIDER GREETINGS FROM THE CITY OF CLEVElAND ...... THOMAS D. CORRIGAN, TRUSTEE CLAIRE E. FREEMAN STATE SENATOR JUDY SHEERER CLEVUAND PUBliC LIBRARY, BoARD OF TRUSTEES MARCIA L. FUDGE BEN SHOUSE RITA FUERST GLEN SHUMATE JEAN B. GAEDE MARY LOU SLIFE GREETI \ GS FROM THE CLEVElANDCITY COUNCIL...... )AY WESTBROOK, PRESIDENT EDITH GAINES MARTHA L. SMITH RUSSELL R. GIFFORD STEVEN R. SMITH ClMLA.'ID CITY CouNOL BILL GINN WARD SMITH SENATOR JOHN H. GLENN HONORABLE LOUIS STOKES GR£Ell\ GS FR()'.1 THE BOARD OF EOUCATJO\ ...... lAWRENCI A. lUMm'\, PREsiDENT JOSEPH T. GORMAN HERBERT E. STRAWBRIDGE MICHAEL GRADY RON SUSTER BOAJm OF EDUCATION MARY LOUISE HAHN DAVID C. SWEET JOHN M. HAIRSTON SETH TAFT GR EETINGS FROM THE LIBRARYOf CONGRESS ...... ANN DEllA PORTA, COORDINATOR HONORABLESARAJ.HARPER MARGARET FORD-TAYLOR ANNE HILL ANDRE THORNTON COOPERATIVE CATALOG PROGRAM DAV ID G. HILL RONALD J. TOBER LIBRARYOF CONGRESS ARTHUR S. HOLDEN HONORABLE GEORGE W. TRUMBO KAREN N. HORN EVAN H. TURNER SCOTT R. INKLEY PAUL A. UNGER GREETINGS FROM THE OHIO LIBRARY COUNOL ...... ALLAN HALL, PRESIDENT FRANK E. JOSEPH THOMAS V. H. VAIL OHIO LIBRARY COUNCIL MICHAEL V. KELLEY CLAIRE VAN UMMERSEN THOMAS J. KIOUS IS. JR. PAUL J. VOLPE G. ROB ERT KLEIN LUCY IRELAND WELLER REV. MICHAEL J. LAYELLE . SJ. JOHN D. WHEELER ADDRE SS JOHN F. LEWIS MARGARET WHEELER MARLA LOEHR. S.N.D. NED WHELAN PATRICK F. McCARTAN MICHAEL WOLF MARJORIE McCLELLAND JAMES H. WOODRING THOMAS KENEALLY, AUTHOR, ScHINDLER'S LIST JACQUELINE F. WOODS JOHN T. ZUBAL THE CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD Of TRUSTEES

PRESIDENT Frances Hunter

VICE PRESIDENT Caesar Burkes

SECRETARY Robert C. Petrulis

Elizabeth L. Coles Thomas D. Corrigan Lynnie G. Powell Alvin L. Schorr

Marilyn Gell Mason DIRECTOR

fRIENDS O F THE CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES

PRESIDENT Betty Cope Robert F. Pincus Richard Gildenmeister David B. Guralnik VICE PRESIDENT Norma Guyon Ranelle A. Gamble J. Stefan Holmes Brenda Logan SECRETARY Wallace N. Martel Rita W. Buchanan Perry Pascarella Cecilia Seminatore TREASURER James T. Steiner Michael Hoffmann Barrett Teamor Homer C. Wadsworth