| 1872 |
Rockford
Public Library organized on June 17th, the second library
organized under the new Illinois statute providing for the
maintenance of public libraries by taxation.
Reading
rooms opened in August on the second floor of a building at
the corner of State and Main Streets.
|
| 1873 |
Rockford
Public Library begins circulating books on February 1st. |
| 1876 |
Rockford
Public Library moves to rooms over the Post Office at the west
end of State Street bridge. |
| 1901 |
Andrew
Carnegie grant of $70,000 announced to build the Main Library
in downtown Rockford. |
| 1902 |
Carnegie
Building opened to the public and dedicated in November. |
| 1904 |
Beattie
Museum of Natural History housed on second floor.
Seventh Street Branch opened June 20th in Svea Soner building.
|
| 1917 |
Seventh
Street branch moved into new building at 428 Sixth Street; named
changed to Rowland Branch. |
| 1918 |
Highland
Branch opened May 27th in newly enlarged Highland School. |
| 1923 |
Montague
Branch building opened to public and dedicated on May 24th. |
| 1930 |
Highland
Branch moved from school to building at 109 Shaw Street. |
| 1931 |
Business
and Technical Room opened at the Main Library on April 1st. |
| 1946 |
Teenage
Book Room opened at Main Library. |
| 1947 |
Listening
Room and Record Collection founded. |
| 1950 |
Bookmobile
service began in October. |
| 1951 |
New
and enlarged Highland Branch opened October 1 at E. State Street
and St. Louis Avenue. |
| 1965
|
Addition
to Carnegie Building completed.
Remodeling of old Carnegie Building began in December. |
| 1971 |
Rock
River Branch opened on January 9th. |
| 1979 |
All
branches closed in April. |
| 1980 |
Montague
and Rock River branches re-opened in January.
Rockton
Centre Branch re-opened in April.
Northeast
Branch re-opened in June.
|
| 1985 |
Compact
discs added to the collection. |
| 1986 |
Northeast
Branch opens in a new location at 320 N. Alpine Road. |
| 1993 |
Online
computer catalog opened to the public. |
| 1994 |
Lewis
Lemon branch opened. |
| 1997
|
Access
to the Internet is made available to the public on Rockford
Public Library computers.
Rock River Branch moves into new building across the parking
lot from its former location in Eleventh St. Plaza. |
| 1998 |
Rockford
Public Library web site is launched. |
| 2002 |
Montague
Branch is expanded and renovated and is re-opened to the public
in May. |
| 2003 |
Rockford
Public Library debuts a new logo to better represent the new
collection focus on popular materials.
Library hires its first
development officer, the only one working for any library
in the state of Illinois.
Library begins it's first
“One Book, One Rockford” initiative. The citizens of Rockford
chose “Into Thin Air” as the first book.
Library doubles Lewis
Lemon branch in size at no cost to the taxpayer.
Library installs three
new wireless computer labs at Montague, Rock River , and Main
Library.
|
| 2004 |
Rockford Public Library starts an innovative “floating collection”
using a new integrated online library catalog dubbed “Max”
for “Maximum Access.” Library introduces “Max” to the public
for the first time at On the Waterfront through electronic
postcards.
Rockford Public Library
wins first ‘Heart of Rockford ' Award for Best Festival by
the River District Association for the 2003 Summer Reading
Club “Where's Jane? She's Reading at Rockford Public Library.”
In March, the United States Institute of Museum and Library
Services also features the program on their front web page.
Library achieves largest
summer reading club ever with 9,050 participants reading an
estimated 60,000 books over the summer, a 46% increase over
two years prior.
Library debuts the Financial
Opportunities Center to help Rockfordians easily find business
and personal finance information. The collection includes
an online collection of local scholarship opportunities.
Library debuts its inaugural
“Festival of Words”, a celebration of the written and spoken
word, featuring authors, spoken word artists, writing workshops,
a local author showcase, and murder mystery dinner.
Rockford Public Library
increases open hours to the Local History collection by 52%
to match regular library hours.
|
| 2007 |
Rockford PUblic Library adds downloadable books to its collection, allowing customers to access materials anywhere they have Internet access. |
| 2009 |
Rockford Public Library closed the Northeast Branch Library on Morsay Dr. and opened the Est Branch Library at 6685 E. State St. The former Barnes and Noble building boasted 23,000 square feet (as opposed to 7,900 square feet at the Northeast Branch) and included expanded collection space, a community meeting room, a large public computer areas, service desk and coffee shop.
In April, The Main Library opened the YA Zone, the system's first teen-only space with YA collection, video games, laptops and group seating. |
| 2010 |
Rockford Public Library's budget gets cut and the library is forced to reduce hours at all locations. One location on both the east and west sides of the river remain open every day of the week except Sunday. |
