Tulsa City-County Library
Encyclopedia
The Tulsa City-County Library (TCCL) is the major public library
system in Tulsa County, Oklahoma
.
TCCL’s collection is composed of more than 1.7 million materials, including books, CDs, DVDs (in regular and Blu-ray formats), magazines, audio books, e-books and other formats. TCCL offers numerous services to the public including public use pcs and Wi-Fi
at each library branch, a bookmobile, homebound delivery, the Ruth G. Hardman Adult Literacy Service, meeting rooms, and reference support via phone, email, instant messaging
, and text messaging
.
TCCL also maintains specialized collections in some of its library branches. The Rudisill Regional Library houses the African-American Resource Center, the Central Library houses the American Indian Resource Center and the Foundation Center, and the Martin Regional Library houses the Hispanic Resource Center. Martin and Rudisill also both house the Plan4College Center to provide families and students with information about college.
TCCL was named as a “5 Star Library” by the publication “Library Journal” in their “2009 Index of Public Library Service.”
Public library service began in Tulsa County in the early 1900s. The first library was in the basement of the Tulsa County courthouse. The Carnegie Library Grant for $12,500 was issued in 1904, The grant was raised to $42,500 in 1913 and to $55,000 in 1915. The original Carnegie Library in downtown Tulsa was demolished in 1965.
However, it wasn’t until the 1960s that what is today known as Tulsa City-County Library was born when, on November 14, 1961, an election was held in Tulsa County to approve “the expenditure of $3.8 million to construct a new Central Library and three branches, plus a 1.9-mill annual levy for funding the system.” Tulsa voters approved “a countywide system to consolidate metropolitan and suburban libraries the following fiscal year” [Thompson, 115]. The Tulsa City-County Library Commission “officially assumed control of the Library System on July 1, 1962 when the 1.9-mill levy went into effect” [Thompson, 119]. “To be absorbed into the consolidated system were the Broken Arrow Library, founded by the Self Culture Club in 1906 but operated by the city since 1929; the Collinsville Library, created by the Comedy of Errors Club in 1913 and converted into a Carnegie library in 1917; a library in Skiatook opened with WPA funds and operated by the City of Skiatook; and Page Memorial Library of Sand Springs” [Thompson, 121].
By 1963, there were 16 libraries operating within the system [Thompson, 125]. In 1975-76, four new libraries were opened while a fifth was completed: The North Regional Library, the Jenks Library, the Pratt Library, the Skiatook Library, and the Martin Regional Library [Thompson, 154-155]. On August 22, 1978, voters approved State Question 507 to enable an increase in the mill levy [Thompson, 157]. A bond passed on May 12, 1998 that allowed TCCL to expand 11 library branches, replace two, and renovate another eight . Today the system consists of a Central Library, four regional libraries, 19 branches, a genealogy center, a bookmobile and homebound delivery service, and a services center.
has been awarded annually since 1985 to an "internationally acclaimed" author who has "written a distinguished body of work and made a major contribution to the field of literature and letters." The Helmerich Award consists of a US$40,000 cash prize and an engraved crystal book. The 2011 honoree is Alan Furst
.
Past winners of the award are:
.
Past winners of the award are:
.
Past winners of the award are:
is a word from the Akan language
, which is spoken in southern Ghana
. Literally translated, sankofa means: “We must go back and reclaim our past so we can move forward; so we understand why and how we came to be who we are today.” The Sankofa Freedom Award consists of a US$7,000 cash prize and an engraved medallion. It is awarded every other year in February during Black History Month to a nationally acclaimed individual who has dedicated his or her life to educating improving the greater African-American community. The 2012 winner of the award is author and actor Hill Harper
.
Past winners of the award are:
Public library
A public library is a library that is accessible by the public and is generally funded from public sources and operated by civil servants. There are five fundamental characteristics shared by public libraries...
system in Tulsa County, Oklahoma
Tulsa County, Oklahoma
Tulsa County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population is 603,403. Its county seat is Tulsa.-History of Tulsa County:The history of Tulsa County greatly overlaps the history of the city of Tulsa...
.
Overview
The library system serves those who live, work, go to school in, own land in, or pay property taxes on land in Tulsa County. There are 25 branches in the system: Bixby, Broken Arrow, Brookside, Central, Charles Page, Collinsville, Genealogy, Glenpool, Hardesty Regional, Herman & Kate Kaiser, Jenks, Judy Z. Kishner, Kendall-Whittier, Martin Regional, Maxwell Park, Nathan Hale, Owasso, Peggy V. Helmerich, Pratt, Rudisill Regional, Schusterman-Benson, Skiatook, South Broken Arrow, Suburban Acres, and Zarrow Regional. As of August 2009, the Hardesty Regional Library in South Tulsa had become the busiest branch.TCCL’s collection is composed of more than 1.7 million materials, including books, CDs, DVDs (in regular and Blu-ray formats), magazines, audio books, e-books and other formats. TCCL offers numerous services to the public including public use pcs and Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
at each library branch, a bookmobile, homebound delivery, the Ruth G. Hardman Adult Literacy Service, meeting rooms, and reference support via phone, email, instant messaging
Instant messaging
Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...
, and text messaging
Text messaging
Text messaging, or texting, refers to the exchange of brief written text messages between fixed-line phone or mobile phone and fixed or portable devices over a network...
.
TCCL also maintains specialized collections in some of its library branches. The Rudisill Regional Library houses the African-American Resource Center, the Central Library houses the American Indian Resource Center and the Foundation Center, and the Martin Regional Library houses the Hispanic Resource Center. Martin and Rudisill also both house the Plan4College Center to provide families and students with information about college.
TCCL was named as a “5 Star Library” by the publication “Library Journal” in their “2009 Index of Public Library Service.”
History
However, it wasn’t until the 1960s that what is today known as Tulsa City-County Library was born when, on November 14, 1961, an election was held in Tulsa County to approve “the expenditure of $3.8 million to construct a new Central Library and three branches, plus a 1.9-mill annual levy for funding the system.” Tulsa voters approved “a countywide system to consolidate metropolitan and suburban libraries the following fiscal year” [Thompson, 115]. The Tulsa City-County Library Commission “officially assumed control of the Library System on July 1, 1962 when the 1.9-mill levy went into effect” [Thompson, 119]. “To be absorbed into the consolidated system were the Broken Arrow Library, founded by the Self Culture Club in 1906 but operated by the city since 1929; the Collinsville Library, created by the Comedy of Errors Club in 1913 and converted into a Carnegie library in 1917; a library in Skiatook opened with WPA funds and operated by the City of Skiatook; and Page Memorial Library of Sand Springs” [Thompson, 121].
By 1963, there were 16 libraries operating within the system [Thompson, 125]. In 1975-76, four new libraries were opened while a fifth was completed: The North Regional Library, the Jenks Library, the Pratt Library, the Skiatook Library, and the Martin Regional Library [Thompson, 154-155]. On August 22, 1978, voters approved State Question 507 to enable an increase in the mill levy [Thompson, 157]. A bond passed on May 12, 1998 that allowed TCCL to expand 11 library branches, replace two, and renovate another eight . Today the system consists of a Central Library, four regional libraries, 19 branches, a genealogy center, a bookmobile and homebound delivery service, and a services center.
Literary awards
The Tulsa Library Trust, a privately-funded public foundation, supports the Tulsa City-County Library. Among other activities, it gives out multiple literary awards.Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award
The Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author AwardHelmerich Award
The Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award is an American literary prize awarded by the Tulsa Library Trust in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is bestowed annually upon an "internationally acclaimed" author who has "written a distinguished body of work and made a major contribution to the field of...
has been awarded annually since 1985 to an "internationally acclaimed" author who has "written a distinguished body of work and made a major contribution to the field of literature and letters." The Helmerich Award consists of a US$40,000 cash prize and an engraved crystal book. The 2011 honoree is Alan Furst
Alan Furst
Alan Furst is an American author of historical spy novels set just prior to and during the Second World War.-Biography:...
.
Past winners of the award are:
- 2010 Ian McEwanIan McEwanIan Russell McEwan CBE, FRSA, FRSL is a British novelist and screenwriter, and one of Britain's most highly regarded writers. In 2008, The Times named him among their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945"....
- 2009 Geraldine Brooks
- 2008 Michael ChabonMichael ChabonMichael Chabon born May 24, 1963) is an American author and "one of the most celebrated writers of his generation", according to The Virginia Quarterly Review....
- 2007 Thomas KeneallyThomas KeneallyThomas Michael Keneally, AO is an Australian novelist, playwright and author of non-fiction. He is best known for writing Schindler's Ark, the Booker Prize-winning novel of 1982 which was inspired by the efforts of Poldek Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor...
- 2006 Mark HelprinMark HelprinMark Helprin is an American novelist, journalist, and conservative commentator.-Background:Helprin was raised on the Hudson River and in the British West Indies, and holds degrees from Harvard College and Harvard's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. His postgraduate work was done at Princeton...
- 2005 John GrishamJohn GrishamJohn Ray Grisham, Jr. is an American lawyer and author, best known for his popular legal thrillers.John Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University before attending the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981 and practiced criminal law for about a decade...
- 2004 not awarded
- 2003 Shelby FooteShelby FooteShelby Dade Foote, Jr. was an American historian and novelist who wrote The Civil War: A Narrative, a massive, three-volume history of the war. With geographic and cultural roots in the Mississippi Delta, Foote's life and writing paralleled the radical shift from the agrarian planter system of the...
- 2002 Joyce Carol OatesJoyce Carol OatesJoyce Carol Oates is an American author. Oates published her first book in 1963 and has since published over fifty novels, as well as many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction...
- 2001 William Kennedy
- 2000 William ManchesterWilliam ManchesterWilliam Raymond Manchester was an American author, biographer, and historian from Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, notable as the bestselling author of 18 books that have been translated into over 20 languages...
- 1999 Margaret AtwoodMargaret AtwoodMargaret Eleanor Atwood, is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C...
- 1998 E. L. DoctorowE. L. DoctorowEdgar Lawrence Doctorow is an American author.- Biography :Edgar Lawrence Doctorow was born in the Bronx, New York City, the son of second-generation Americans of Russian Jewish descent...
- 1997 John Hope FranklinJohn Hope FranklinJohn Hope Franklin was a United States historian and past president of Phi Beta Kappa, the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association, and the Southern Historical Association. Franklin is best known for his work From Slavery to Freedom, first published in 1947, and...
- 1996 Neil SimonNeil SimonNeil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
- 1995 David McCulloughDavid McCulloughDavid Gaub McCullough is an American author, narrator, historian, and lecturer. He is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian award....
- 1994 Ray BradburyRay BradburyRay Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
- 1993 Peter MatthiessenPeter MatthiessenPeter Matthiessen is a two-time National Book Award-winning American novelist and non-fiction writer, as well as an environmental activist...
- 1992 Norman MailerNorman MailerNorman Kingsley Mailer was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and film director.Along with Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Hunter S...
- 1991 Eudora WeltyEudora WeltyEudora Alice Welty was an American author of short stories and novels about the American South. Her novel The Optimist's Daughter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among numerous awards. She was the first living author to have her works published...
- 1990 John le CarréJohn le CarréDavid John Moore Cornwell , who writes under the name John le Carré, is an author of espionage novels. During the 1950s and the 1960s, Cornwell worked for MI5 and MI6, and began writing novels under the pseudonym "John le Carré"...
- 1989 Saul BellowSaul BellowSaul Bellow was a Canadian-born Jewish American writer. For his literary contributions, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts...
- 1988 Toni MorrisonToni MorrisonToni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved...
- 1987 John UpdikeJohn UpdikeJohn Hoyer Updike was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic....
- 1986 Larry McMurtryLarry McMurtryLarry Jeff McMurtry is an American novelist, essayist, bookseller and screenwriter whose work is predominantly set in either the old West or in contemporary Texas...
- 1985 Norman CousinsNorman CousinsNorman Cousins was an American political journalist, author, professor, and world peace advocate.-Early life and education:...
Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers' Literature
The Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers' Literature has been awarded since 1991 to "nationally acclaimed authors who have made a significant contribution to the field of literature for children and young adults." The award consists of a US$7,500 cash prize and an engraved crystal book. The 2011 winner of the award is author Kathryn LaskyKathryn Lasky
Kathryn Lasky is an American author whose work includes several Dear America books, The Royal Diaries books, Sugaring Time, The Night Journey, and the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series.-Biography:...
.
Past winners of the award are:
- 2010 Phyllis Reynolds NaylorPhyllis Reynolds NaylorPhyllis Reynolds Naylor is an American author best known for her children and young adult fiction books. Naylor is best known for her children's-novel trilogy Shiloh , Shiloh Season and Saving Shiloh, all made into movies...
- 2009 Christopher Paul CurtisChristopher Paul CurtisChristopher Paul Curtis is an American children's author and a Newbery Medal winner who wrote The Watsons Go to Birmingham: 1963 and the critically acclaimed Bud, Not Buddy. Bud, Not Buddy is the first novel to receive both the Coretta Scott King Award and the Newbery Medal...
- 2008 Louis SacharLouis SacharLouis Sachar is an American author of children's books who is best known for the Sideways Stories From Wayside School book series and the 1998 novel Holes, for which Sachar won a National Book Award and the Newbery Medal...
- 2007 Kate DiCamilloKate DiCamilloKatrina Elizabeth "Kate" DiCamillo is an American children's author. She is known for the Newbery Medal-winning book The Tale of Despereaux, the Newbery Honor book Because of Winn-Dixie, and the Mercy Watson series, plus numerous other award-winning and honored books.-Early life:Born in...
- 2006 Sharon CreechSharon CreechSharon Creech is an American novelist of children's fiction.-Biography:Sharon Creech was born in South Euclid, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, where she grew up with her parents , one sister , and three brothers...
- 2005 Avi
- 2004 Susan CooperSusan CooperSusan Mary Cooper is an English author best known for The Dark Is Rising, an award-winning five-volume saga set in and around England and Wales. The books incorporate traditional British mythology, such as Arthurian and other Welsh elements with original material ; these books were adapted into a...
- 2003 Russell FreedmanRussell FreedmanRussell Freedman is a biographer and author of nearly 50 books for young people. He is most notable for receiving the 1988 Newbery Medal with his work Lincoln: A Photobiography. In 1998, he received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal for his lifelong contribution to children's literature. He currently...
- 2002 Richard Peck
- 2001 E.L. Konigsburg
- 2000 Jerry SpinelliJerry SpinelliJerry Spinelli is an author of children's novels on adolescence and early adulthood. He is best known for the novels Maniac Magee and Wringer....
- 1999 Jane YolenJane YolenJane Hyatt Yolen is an American author and editor of almost 300 books. These include folklore, fantasy, science fiction, and children's books...
- 1998 Cynthia VoigtCynthia VoigtCynthia Voigt is an American author of books for young adults dealing with various topics such as adventure, mystery, racism and child abuse. Her first book in the Tillerman family series, Homecoming, was nominated for several international prizes and made into a 1996 film...
- 1997 Gary PaulsenGary PaulsenGary James Paulsen is an American writer who writes many young adult coming of age stories about the wilderness. He is the author of more than 200 books , 200 magazine articles and short stories, and several plays, all primarily for young adults and teens.-Biography:Gary Paulsen was born in...
- 1996 Walter Dean MyersWalter Dean MyersWalter Dean Myers is an African American author of young adult literature. Myers has written over fifty books, including novels and nonfiction works. He has won the Coretta Scott King Award for African American authors five times...
- 1995 not awarded
- 1994 Lois LowryLois LowryLois Lowry is an American author of children's literature. She began her career as a photographer and a freelance journalist during the early 1970s...
- 1993 Katherine PatersonKatherine PatersonKatherine Paterson is an American author of children's novels. She wrote Bridge to Terabithia and has received several of the major international awards for children's literature.- Early life:...
- 1992 Madeleine L’Engle
- 1991 S.E. Hinton
American Indian Festival of Words Author Award
Inaugurated in 2001, the American Indian Festival of Words Author Award recognizes literary contributions of outstanding American Indian authors. It is the first and only award given by a public library to honor an American Indian author. The award is given by the Tulsa Library Trust and Tulsa Library's American Indian Resource Center in odd-numbered years. Recipients receive a US$5,000 cash prize and medallion. The 2011 winner of the award is author LeAnne HoweLeAnne Howe
LeAnne Howe is an author and scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. An enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Howe's work has been published in a variety of journals and anthologies. Her book Shell Shaker received the Before Columbus Foundation's American Book...
.
Past winners of the award are:
- 2009 not awarded
- 2007 Carter RevardCarter RevardCarter Curtis Revard is an American poet, writer and scholar. He is part Osage on his father's side. He is also known by his Osage name, Nom-Peh-Wah-The given to him in 1952 by his grandmother, Mrs. Josephine Jump....
- 2005 Leslie Marmon SilkoLeslie Marmon SilkoLeslie Marmon Silko is a Native American writer of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, and one of the key figures in the second wave of what Kenneth Lincoln has called the Native American Renaissance...
- 2003 Vine Deloria, Jr.Vine Deloria, Jr.Vine Deloria, Jr. was an American Indian author, theologian, historian, and activist. He was widely known for his book Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto , which helped generate national attention to Native American issues in the same year as the Alcatraz-Red Power Movement...
- 2001 Joy HarjoJoy HarjoJoy Harjo is a Native American poet, musician, and author of ancestry. Known primarily as a poet, Harjo has also taught at the college level, played alto saxophone with a band called Poetic Justice, edited literary journals, and written screenplays. She is a member of the Muscogee Nation and...
Sankofa Freedom Award
The Sankofa Freedom Award is presented by the Tulsa Library Trust and Tulsa Library's African-American Resource Center. SankofaSankofa
Sankofa can mean either the word in the Akan language of Ghana that translates in English to "go back and take" or the Asante Adinkra symbols of a a bird with its head turned backwards taking an egg off its back, or of a stylised heart shape...
is a word from the Akan language
Akan language
Akan, also known as Twi and Fante, is an Akan language that is the principal native language of Ghana, spoken over much of the southern half of that country, by about 52% of the population, and to a lesser extent across the border in eastern Côte d'Ivoire...
, which is spoken in southern Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
. Literally translated, sankofa means: “We must go back and reclaim our past so we can move forward; so we understand why and how we came to be who we are today.” The Sankofa Freedom Award consists of a US$7,000 cash prize and an engraved medallion. It is awarded every other year in February during Black History Month to a nationally acclaimed individual who has dedicated his or her life to educating improving the greater African-American community. The 2012 winner of the award is author and actor Hill Harper
Hill Harper
Francis Harper , known professionally as Hill Harper, is an American film, television and stage actor, and author. An alumnus of Harvard Law School, he is best known for his portrayal of Dr...
.
Past winners of the award are:
- 2010 Pearl Cleage
- 2008 Nikki GiovanniNikki GiovanniYolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni is an American poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator. Her primary focus is on the individual and the power one has to make a difference in oneself and in the lives of others. Giovanni’s poetry expresses strong racial pride, respect for family, and her...
- 2006 Michael Eric Dyson
External links
- Tulsa City-County Library
- Articles & databases
- AskUs!
- Books & Reading
- Catalog
- Event Guide
- News
- Tulsa Library Trust official website
- Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award official website
- Thompson, Mildred Ladner. "Tulsa City-County Library: 1912-1991." Tulsa: Lion & Thorne Publishing, Ltd.