[upbeat music] - In the 1880's, a man named Frederick Cossitt had lived in Memphis, came here during the civil war, was a Northern merchant, opened up a dry goods store, made a lot of money, invested in cotton.

And he had said to several of his Memphis friends, that he would love to be able to do something for Memphis.

A group of influential white Memphians contacted the family of Frederick Cossitt.

So they agreed to donate $75,000 to build a public library in Memphis.

Beautiful, red Romanesque state sandstone building.

In 1898, a man named Charles Dutton Johnston, who was the first professionally trained librarian to be director.

He opened a public library at LeMoyne college for African-Americans.

The public library still had a problem with revenue.

The city really didn't have the funds.

So Johnston, working with political leaders at Memphis and at the state legislature was able to pass a bill that allowed a percentage of Memphis property taxes to go specifically to library services.

The man who replaced Charles Dutton Johnston, Jesse Cunningham Greg, was a graduate of the New York State Public Library Institute, but he worked with the Rosenwald Fund to purchase bookmobiles to go into the rural parts of Shelby County, both white and black to provide library services to them.

So that's very innovative, but of course, then the Great Depression comes but the library, never closes, the staff remain employed throughout the worst of the, of the depression.

After World War II, there weren't enough public libraries in the city and it was not enough simply to have a downtown public library.

You've got to have more and really lays the foundation for a branch library system that is built in the '50s and '60s.

Jessie Cunningham retires at the end of the 1950s, (indistinct) Lamar Wallace becomes a library director, but first he has to deal with the issue of segregation.

So the pressure of the city ends combined with the lawsuit led at the end of 1964, the Memphis public library system to integrate.

The other important thing that Wallace does is he establishes an information and referral service in Memphis.

This is not something that was done 40 and 50 years ago.

Lamar Wallace retired in 1981 and his successor was Robert Kronberger.

So Kronberger leaves after four years, and that leads in 1985 to the public library board hiring its first woman library director, Judith Drescher.

For 15 years, she worked assiduously to build this building build what is now the Benjamin Hooks Central Library.

- (Gina) Space is always an issue in any type of archive.

So in the old building, we had been very cramped, very cramped.

And so in 2001, when we moved here, we were able to spread out and make room for, for lots of the collections.

Its where we house material related to the history and the present day of Memphis and Shelby County.

So anything related to Memphis or Memphians.

So that was a really wonderful thing for us to have here in the new building.

[upbeat music] - (Dara) I feel a very joyous responsibility to help my community and take care of my community.

And I feel that the public library is a great place to be able to get that work done.

The main mission of the library is to satisfy the customer's need to know.

And so a lot of the work that we do within our department is making sure that our littlest customers know that they are just as welcome to be here as adults are, and that the library is here to serve them just as anybody else.

- Well, children's services in general our, our big goal is to end people's inability to access information.

- We have an international story time where we try and highlight different areas.

We have a lot of immigrant communities within Memphis, and so we want to make sure that they are seen and feel welcome.

We have a rainbow family story time to serve our LGBTQIA+ community so that they know that they are seen and loved here.

- (Jamie) And our goal is to serve the children of this community, but also in doing that, you also have to serve the parents as well.

- (Father) This is for when we read at nighttime when you go to bed.

- It really helps cultivate readers, when you just kind of let kids just take time here.

- Something that we've been working on for the past couple of years in this department is a diversity audit of our entire collection.

When we're all done with that, we will then look at all of our census data and make sure that we are reflecting the community that we serve.

- (Jamie) When you get a parent to call you and say, you know, "That was really helpful.

My kid passed this particular test", like, well, this is the stuff that we do is definitely worthwhile when you know it has impact on people, and then they share that with you.

- We are here to make your life better, regardless of who you are.

We're so happy to have you come in.

[upbeat music] - Cloud 901 is where the cool kids hang out.

- (Jessica) Cloud 901 is a teen learning lab that works with teens 13 to 18 to develop 21st century skills that looks like critical and creative thinking, collaboration, and problem-solving skills.

We had all these different areas for teams to be able to explore and be creative.

- (Amanda) Every person staffed in Cloud 901 is professional in their particular field.

So students coming in have access to someone to really guide them through how everything works here.

In the video lab, we have everything here that students would need to make their own films or photo projects.

We have cameras that they have access to right here for free.

We teach kids how to use Photoshop, Premiere, After Effects and working it all together to make some really cool video projects.

One of my students here won the Indie Memphis Youth Film Fest two years in a row.

It all started with her just trying to play around with the camera.

- I am curricular designer and developer of the Sound Mix Lab.

We just take the kids we meet them where they are, and we, we give them access to the things that they think they want to do.

And we use pro tools that's the industry standard for music, where it fully lays for UAD, we have a full board, we use the MPC to make beats.

You want to make music, we have everything.

- We have a wide variety of kids that come to the library and the cool thing about the kids that come here, they really want to be here.

- One of the things that brought me back here to help with this was it would've been cool if I had this.

- (Jessica) We've set, found ourselves to be a safe space for youth.

- (Amanda) They find out that there's so many more options than what they just see in school.

And that is the coolest thing.

- LINC 211 is the best kept secret in many places.

- We provide community information to callers, but we also provide that as part of a larger, statewide public database 211, Tennessee.

- Memphis is very, very unique because we are under a municipality, i.e.

City of Memphis Library System.

- (Lisa) We've actually been providing community resources and information to the public since 1975, but we didn't become an actual 211 call center until, I think late 2005, early 2006.

We get more requests for basic needs resources.

Things like housing, food, and shelter utilities.

- We are the frontline for those resources that are coming down from the federal government to help people so that they can stay in their homes, pay the utility bills.

When somebody calls, if they say they need help with their rent, nine times out of ten, they need help with something else.

So what we do is just make it really cool and conversational when we're talking to them and say, "Hey, what else do you need?

Because we have other ways that we can help you."

And they're so grateful.

- Not only do we have LINC 211 that you can call during library hours, you have Job LINC.

Job LINC was created in 1990 as a service of the public libraries LINC department.

The idea was to go into communities where there was a lack of resources for individuals who were seeking job assistance.

It's online, in-person networking, interviewing, basically connecting people to everything that's necessary to look for a job.

- (Kim) I love when they come back and they touch base with us.

To let us know, you know, that because of you guys, things are different.

It's just really kind of heart work as I call it.

- We're not just here giving out phone numbers, we're talking to people.

- Our goal is the same goal with everyone in the city, is to get our community to work, to make it a better place.

- There are no boundaries as it relates to the people that we can help.

- WYPL FM radio and the library channel are the broadcast facilities of the library and the city of Memphis.

WYPL radio started out in the early seventies as a radio reading service.

- (Barbara) This is my home.

I come in once a week, I stay for two hours and I read a book.

People can just go somewhere, you know, in terms of listening to whatever is being, being read.

It's the most wonderful thing.

- The library channel is the city of Memphis' government access channel.

And we also produce community interest programs.

- (Sunny) The name of the segment that I lead is senior-focused.

The subject is really answering to their needs.

So we'll discuss issues about helping seniors adjust to changes in life and the questions that they have about access to places.

It's a good thing to arm them with knowledge, arm them with benefits.

- Gives you an opportunity to see what planned programming can do for the community - It's important to me and we love what we're doing, and we're consistently available.

- We couldn't do what we do without all of our volunteers.

When COVID hit back in March of 2020, Mayor Strickland's communications department called and asked if we could host the COVID task force updates or press conferences.

So we kind of switched gears from doing our regular shows to doing Facebook live feeds.

We had the press ask their questions at home or remotely from their office without actually coming into the studio.

We all are here to do the good work, and we all have that as a mission here.

- The friends are more or less, as I would say, a nonprofit with a soul.

- I'm a friend of the library.

I have been 43 years.

- And we help raise funds for the library.

And the fundraising comes in the form of two book sales every year.

Thousands of people come to the library over this two and a half day period.

- (Sherman) The reason I became a friend is because I went to one of their book sales in '77.

The people there were so welcoming, friendly.

I thought I need to be a part of this.

- (Jacqueline)We may get as many as 2,500 to 3, to 4,000 book donations a week.

And then over the course of a year, we may have received 275,000 books.

- (Sherman) We can't sell them all.

So we can, we have these agencies that we give these books to.

Some schools and hospitals and other places need books.

- (Jacqueline) It's a community.

- (Sherman) Coming in every day and working with the books and being around the people that I work with in the sorting room is special, they create an atmosphere of goodwill in the library.

- I'm just thankful to have been able to be a part of an organization that was 100% about service.

- (David) The library truly makes a community.

- (Christine) The library foundation is a separate nonprofit organization from the library that manages an endowment to support the library and also raises funds from private sources for the library.

And that would include foundation grants, corporate sponsorships, and individual donors.

- My grandmother, Honey Scheidt, and about 20 others raised money to support the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library.

And with the extra money leftover, that was really the seed money for the Memphis Library Foundation that we have continued to grow today to enhance the library system.

The library system is funded by the City of Memphis, but there are projects or enhancements that private money can just boost.

- (Christine) The city's budget provides operating dollars for the library, but it doesn't include any of the enhancements, the programming, new collection materials.

That is all funded by private dollars, and those funds come primarily through the library foundation, and then also through the Friends of the Library.

We have the Dan Davis Personal Finance Center here in the Central Library.

Dan Davis was a Memphian who learned how to invest by coming to the library every week, and ultimately he became a millionaire that way.

So when he passed, he had a handwritten will that left a chunk of his estate and the Central Library received that chunk of money and has invested it, and now every year we refresh the Personal Finance Center on our third floor with those funds.

- (David) The board of trustees is a group of seven individuals appointed by the Mayor of Memphis.

Our job is to work with and support the staff of the Memphis Public Library.

- We have an amazing task.

It's bringing everything together for the vision of the Memphis Public Libraries.

And we also serve as the liaison between the city and the library.

Fundamentally we're, we're looking at a way that the library can continue to grow with the city.

- (David) I think that the library as a system has been able to dream bigger and begin to expand its footprint.

- (Robinson) It's one thing to sit down with a strategic plan and talk about what you want to do.

Seeing those things come to fruition, seeing partnerships being made that is unbelievable because there are so many people that are involved in making that a reality.

- (Lawson) The library system just reaches people in all walks of life, all day long.

- (Christine) Every group of people within the city can benefit from the services provided by libraries.

- (Robinson) Whether you're a child or up to an adult, we look at the library as a fundamental part of our city and our community.

- The library serves people our age from cradle to rocking chair.

- We've got to go out and meet people, where they are.

- (Courtney) My team and I have taken our programming and library resources out to the community.

So some of the things we've done to make it convenient is to bring services at laundromats, barber shops, beauty shops, grocery stores, even.

I'm letting them know what we have available and dual programming with children and adults and bring books as well.

So they, they can build their own personal library or read while they're waiting on their load of clothes to finish or their haircut.

- This is not only just a place for you to come and check out books.

People all say library to check on books, but we do so much more.

- We offer the same services on our website, as we do in all of our brick and mortar buildings.

And you can check out books, you can ask questions, you can access a reference material, you can find out information on how to start a business, job and career information.

And so if you can get on the internet, you can access the library.

- There are always barriers, whether they're economic or educational or cultural.

- So the work that we do here are really impactful and meaningful and really improve the quality of life for our community.

- We're always on the go, we're in various communities, so please look for us when you see our Start Here van, and know we have some very exciting programming prepared.

- We're called business and sciences, but of course we have a lot more on our floor, that, that name can't just do justice to.

- The doers come to our department, because if you want to learn how to do something, chances are, you're going to find that information here.

- We have all the collection materials for adults that have to do with business, philosophy, commerce, law, and economics, as well as all the STEM fields.

- (Blake) One thing that we have is one of our most used resources, and that is we have a repair center and you can get all sorts of technical information that can help you fix your car.

- It's important to help local entrepreneurs.

We host small business seminars on how to start a small business, how to do a business plan, how to market your small business.

- The free Saturday legal clinic is once a month.

Individuals who have a legal question or problem can come in and talk face-to-face with an attorney.

- I am the public services supervisor for the humanities department.

We do offer a range of services.

We have a desk called the Reference Desk.

- (Suzanne) So that means that it's our job to know a little bit about everything that's going on in the building.

- (Josh) People think the librarians have all the information.

We don't, but what we're really equipped to do is find out where to look.

- (Suzanne) We have a lot of literature and language programs.

We have an annual community African-American read in for Black History Month.

We offer English as a second language, classes for new Memphians.

We have lots of music performances and concerts, everything from folk to rock.

- (Nobuko) I think that our customers are just, incredible.

- Every single day, when I come to work, I can expect to be surprised.

- There's just a good spirit and all of our libraries.

And I feel privileged to be a part of that.

- (Chris) Most people know about our public services, but, you know, most people don't realize the hard work that's going on behind the, behind the scenes.

- (Debby) I am behind the scenes that deals with a lot of the materials that get on the shelves for customers.

We order materials, we process materials, so that customers can find what they need.

- (Chris) We focused over the last few years on, on the onboarding experience for customers.

Every time they visit, or every time they, they go to our website, we want it to be a positive experience.

- They should be getting the same treatment, the same level of service, everywhere they go.

Everyone that comes in needs something different.

- We constantly evolve.

We we're always looking for opportunities to improve.

It's really about, you know, how can we help the customers?

- And I remember walking to this building at the, you know, the first time and, it is just humbling, and it's an honor to be a steward of this incredible facility.

Every day after school, I was dropped off by the bus and went to the library at Peabody McLean and to think about my childhood and, you know, walking in this building, I would have been here on purpose every day.

I would have loved to have come because I loved it, because there is something for me and for everyone else.

We're a place that has sole focus on encouraging people to find their dreams and their paths outside of a traditional institutions.

Memphis public libraries has been recognized as a national medal winner from the Institute for Museum and Library Services.

That is the highest award in the United States of America that can be granted, and I'm really proud of that.

This is, we are the only library in the nation who has ever won the award twice.

It really reflects the partnership and the collaboration with the Library Foundation, this Library Foundation, the Friends of the Library and the Board of Trustees, as well as our volunteers.

I think the quality of education people get in here and the increase in literacy and the impact on individuals throughout the community is occurring largely because of the Memphis Library Foundation, as well as obviously the support of the Mayor, the city of Memphis and the City Council.

Cloud 901 was a game changer, not just for Memphis Public Libraries, but for our community.

And now our biggest complaint is actually, why don't we all get a Cloud 901?

You know, it's our flagship.

People come from all over the world to see what's going on here at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library.

And it's just really stood the test of time.

And I'm just really grateful that that the library foundation continues to push us so that, you know, we can do everything to the highest degree possible and be a model.

[calming music]