Publiclibraries.com Website Review

The original purpose of a public library was to acquire books and then lend those books out to the community to improve literacy, share knowledge and provide education and entertainment. This allowed a huge number of people to share one book rather than each having to purchase Today, public libraries offer a wide variety of resources and services to the communities they serve. The primary goals are still education, Some of the more popular reasons people go to the library include free computer use, wi-fi and internet access, homework research and help, job searches and resume building, parenting clas*es, children’s programs, checking out books and ebooks, genealogy research and public records searches. Groups often meet at libraries and kids will frequently hang out after school at their local library. Librarians are very familiar with a wide variety of research topics and resources and can provide a great deal of help with searching for information. For example, people can benefit greatly from a librarian as*isting them with searching through public records and obituaries Public libraries receive virtually all of their funding from local city, county and state taxes. Some libraries receive grants from the federal government as well, though this is not typical. Many also receive donations from members of their local community. There were 9,057 public libraries in the US according to the 2016 Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Public Libraries Survey. However, the 9,057 number includes library systems which have multiple branch locations so the actual number of physical locations The 2016 IMLS survey also reported that there were an estimated 119,487 libraries in the US. The report found that there were 9,057 public, 3,793 academic, 98,460 school, 6,966 special, 252 armed forces and 934 government libraries. Benjamin Franklin in 1731 along with some of his friends created the Library Company of Philadelphia and it was the first library in