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The Nation's Oldest Public Library Is In Danger of Closing

January 23, 2009 - 10:29am — Anonymous Patron (not verified)

As The Nutter administration prepares to ask a court for approval to shutter 11 Philadelphia libraries as part of a cost-cutting plan, a national treasure just outside the city limits is on the verge of collapse.

Delaware County's Darby Free Library, which was founded in 1743 and is believed to be the oldest continuously operating public library in America, will be forced to close its doors at year's end if somebody doesn't write a fat check, the Daily News has learned.

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January 25, 2009 - 3:55pm — The Library History

Not the oldest public library

I would challenge the Darby Free Library's claim to be the oldest continuously operating public library in the nation. It doesn't appear to me that it is even a legal public library. There is no doubt that it was established as a membership or subscription library and not as a free public library. It evidently didn't actually start receiving public tax support, a prerequiste to the definition of a public library, until the 1990s. It is legally a non-profit corporation governed by the board of the Darby Library Company and is not a part of municipal government. The Peterborough Town Library established in 1833 in New Hampshire is the oldest tax supported free public library in continuous existence. The Library Company of Philadeliphia established in 1731 is the oldest subscription or membership library. See http://www.libraryhistorybuff.com/peterborough.htm.

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