Mission and History

Mission

To attempt, within our financial means, to collect, organize, & make accessible & distribute library materials to meet informational needs of individuals and groups, and to facilitate informational self-education, to encourage positive the recreation and constructive use of leisure time, and to act as a supplemental resource in the formal education of children and young people in the community.


History

The first public library serving Livingston was established in 1932, and was called the Free Public Library. The library was located in an unused jury room of the Polk County courthouse. It was sponsored by the Study Club and the PTA. The library opened with 600 books, half of which were on loan from the Texas State Library. Mrs. L. R. Wade was the first librarian. In 1936 the Free Public Library qualified for federal assistance through the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Two WPA workers were assigned to the library. With the addition of these workers, the library was able to expand its hours. By 1940, the library had grown enough to need new quarters, and was moved to a larger room in the courthouse In December of 1942 WPA participation in the library ended, and it closed for lack of funding. A Library Association was formed and in February of 1943 the Free Public Library reopened and was located upstairs in the J.W. Cochran building. It was funded mainly from the dues from the Association. In 1950 the sponsorship of the library was undertaken by the Livingston Hub Club. By 1951 the library had outgrown its quarters and was moved to the Courthouse basement with Marjorie Butler serving as librarian. During the late 1950s and early 1960s efforts to construct a public library building were underway. A guiding force behind those efforts was Mrs. Gertrude Blodgett Murphy. Mrs. Murphy assisted in setting up a corporation to handle the funds being raised. She was responsible for getting a charter from the Texas State Library to establish a public library. In order to raise funds for the building project, Mrs. Murphy underwrote the publishing costs for raised funds from the book "Kalita's people" by Aline Rothe. The proceeds from the sale of this book were donated to the building fund. In 1965 Mrs. Murphy died leaving $100,000 to help build the building. This amount along with funds raised previously was enough to qualify for state and federal matching grants. In 1967 construction of the new building began. In March of 1969 the renamed Murphy Memorial Library opened its doors. In 1972 the library was designated by the City Council of Livingston as a community library. In 1978 the library joined the (HALS) Houston Area Library System. There have been only three library directors in the 33 year history of Murphy Memorial Library. Mrs. Lillian Sewell served as the library director of Murphy Memorial Library for many years. When she retired in the 1980s her place was taken by Mrs. May Dowlin. In 1985, Priscilla Emrich became the director. In 1996 the library was closed for five months for a renovation project to bring it into compliance with the American Disabilities Act (ADA). During this time the library's staff did an in-house retrospective conversion of the library's shelf list into MARC format. Renovations included installing a wheelchair lift, creating a handicapped accessible bathroom, moving the front entry, and installing stairs. During this time the library staff worked on projects that would prepare the library for automation. In 1997 the library received a matching grant from the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund to purchase two computers for public Internet access. The service was popular, and in 2001 the library received a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to add four more computers for public access. In 2001 the library also received another TIF grant to upgrade both its automation network, and its access to the Internet. Murphy Memorial Library is looking forward to to the future and to expanding its services to the citizens of Livingston.