[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 8227-8228]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               CENTENNIAL OF WASHOE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, we all understand that books are one of the 
greatest things ever created by human beings. Books bring the world 
within our reach, and they open the door of knowledge. Our Nation long 
ago recognized the importance of books and reading. That is why we 
developed a system of universal education, where every child would have 
an opportunity to learn how to read. And that is why we have public 
libraries. One hundred years ago this month, on May 31, 1904, the city 
of Reno, NV opened its first public library. The building was 
constructed on donated land, with a gift of $15,000 from Andrew 
Carnegie. Mr. Carnegie believed so strongly in public libraries that he 
built more than 1600 of them around the world. That original library 
served the city of Reno for 26 years. But as the town grew and the 
popularity of the library increased, more space was needed. In 1930, 
the Reno Public library moved into the old State building in Powning 
Park. It also became affiliated at that time with Washoe County. Two 
years later, the county also opened a library in the nearby city of 
Sparks.
  After World War II, as Washoe County began to experience more growth, 
the library system expanded to keep up with the demand. Under the 
leadership of Portia Hawley Griswold, the first library ``bookmobile'' 
hit the road in the late 1950s, bringing books to remote areas of the 
county. A new main branch opened in downtown Reno in 1966, thanks to a 
gift from the Max C. Fleischmann Foundation.
  As the library system added more new locations throughout the 1970s 
and 1980s, it also employed new innovations. A Senior Center library 
made books more accessible to retirees, with volunteers delivering 
books to the homebound. The Gerlach High School branch launched a 
partnership between the county and the local school system. The Sierra 
View library was the first to open in a shopping center. Today, the 
Washoe County library system has branches in 12 locations, plus a 
mobile library. Citizens can also use the library's Internet branch to 
look for books and conduct research for school assignments, business 
projects, or simply to satisfy their curiosity. Last year the people of 
Washoe County visited the library system 1.4 million times and checked 
out almost 2 million items. As it has for the last 100 years, the 
public library is meeting the needs of the people of Reno NV, and 
Washoe

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County. It puts books and knowledge within the reach of every citizen.
  This centennial of success calls for a celebration. So a gala 
birthday party for the Washoe County library system will be held on May 
21.
  Please join me in congratulating Library Director Nancy Cummings and 
the trustees of the Washoe County library system--Chairman Bud Fujii, 
Lucille Adin, June Burton, Paul Theiner and Paul Davis. Along with the 
Washoe County Commission, the Friends of the Washoe County Library, and 
the Washoe County Library Foundation, they have continued to advance 
the worthy goal that Andrew Carnegie embraced a century ago.

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