The Beverly Hills Public Library
The Beverly Hills Library (or more formally The Beverly Hills Public Library) is the only public library in the city. Not everything is glamour and shopping in the town of the stars, books are important too! Its present catalogue consists of brand new material, older books, collector's books, and out-of-print books.
The library was first created in 1929, when the Beverly Hills City Council passed a decree to constitute a Municipal Public Library. The city formed a three-member board for supervision duties and rented a small space that was quickly outgrown. With a city population of over 18,000 and more than 5,000 registered borrowers, the library had to be relocated and in 1932 was moved to the City Hall.
By the early 1940's, the population of borrowers had once again increased considerably, prompting the decision of expanding the library's working space to two full floors in the city hall. Around this time the City Council decided to eliminate the board, giving full control of its administration to the Mayor and the City Council.
In 1959 the Friends of the Beverly Hills Public Library was founded, a non-profit organization devoted to raise funds in order to supplement, improve and enhance the services that were provided to the public. This ultimately resulted in the construction of a new building, which opened in 1965. Twenty five years later a full renovation was envisioned, including a brand new building, which eventually opened to the public in 1990.
The "Friends" organization also funds and promotes literacy activities for children, with over 1000 kids taking part annually in their Summer Reading Club. In addition, the organization works to fill gaps in the library's general collection, and has also recently begun to implement a program aimed at preserving local history by digitalizing old newspapers.
In the present day, the Beverly Hills Library is visited by approximately 2000 people every day.