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library in their club room in 1927 (Oberlin). Bruton wrote that âMrs. (Veronica) Wells ⌠has been acknowledged as the âmotherâ of the Plant City Public
Library.â Members of the public were allowed to join the library by paying a fee, and could then check out books from the collection, which took up âa few shelvesâ in the club room of the Womanâs Club building. âThe library was formally opened as a public library Saturday afternoon, June 21, 1929, with 317 booksâ. This building, which used to be the Central Grammar School, stood on the southwest corner of Baker Street and Wheeler Street.
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raising awareness of the need for a city-owned public library. Finally, in
December 1958, the city held a special-purpose election in which an âunusually heavy for a municipal electionâ approved a new tax to support a public library by a ratio of three to one. The dedication ceremony for the new building inspired John Germany, for whom a downtown Tampa library would later be named, and he returned to Plant City to learn more about how to conduct a similar campaign there.
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run-down tax-foreclosed residenceâ, was located at 501 North
Wheeler Street. The building was on the northwest corner of Wheeler and McLendon, which is where the current library stands with a south-facing entrance on McLendon. The Womanâs Club continued to operate the library there, and in 1940 the city began to provide a $ 25 per month contribution to the costs of running the library. By 1941, the library owned 9,605 books and used funds from the
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of the
Libraryâs annual budget. Starting in May 2006, there was an effort to weed and shift their collections. 22,000 items were weeded from the libraryâs collection, including half of the reference collection, which made way for the expanding audiovisual collection. Renovations began on May 7 and lasted 2 weeks, with the library reopening on May 21.
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The renovation cost approximately $ 100,000. 65% had come from donations, notable donations coming from what then-library director Anne
Haywood called two âangelsâ-- patrons who had donated money to cover the rest of the cost when they were going over budget. The remainder was from State Aid and part
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In 2006, due to the projected doubling of the city's population in the upcoming decade, Plant City commissioned a library-building needs assessment by the local architectural consulting firm
Harvard Jolly Architects and consultant Ruth O'Donnell. The study recommended doubling the libraryâs size once
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Bruton
Memorial Library offers programs for children, young adults, and adults. Childrenâs programs include Crafternoon: a biweekly arts and crafts project, Pre-K story time, and reading with a trained therapy dog. Young adult programs include a monthly book talk. Adult programs include Craft Night
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In 1990, Plant City Public
Library was rededicated to the memory of Mrs. Bruton, taking her name as the Quintilla Geer Bruton Memorial Library. Her plans to expand the library continued; the city commission dedicated $ 900,000 for the construction project, which was estimated to cost $ 1.1 million.
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of Plant City began to make their own plans for a library: âThe club plans to develop, from a small start, a library which will eventually be the pride of Plant City.â Bruton noted that ânearly forty years passed before the CityâŚwas persuaded to build a library.â The Womanâs Club began operating a
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and convinced the Womanâs Club to purchase a card catalog âand the tedious task of revising the catalog system beganâ. In 1957, a $ 500,000 city bond included no support for a library, and civic organizations including the
Chamber of Commerce, the Womanâs Club, and a local radio station were all
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in
September 1960 before it could even be dedicated, but while âthe town was a shambles, not a window in the library was brokenâ. By 1963 it had earned the Book-of-the-Month Clubâs award for the best small library in the state. Ten years after it opened, Plant City began construction that would
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As part of the study, OâDonnell also made eleven recommendations on how to improve the current building, revolving around making more efficient use of the space, catering the collections to user needs, adding more computers, and creating an area for teens. Bruton Memorial Library staff and the
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Mary F. Young, historian of the Womanâs Club, reported in 1932 that âthe club accepted the responsibility and expense of remodeling the Miller building which the City Commissioners have dedicated as a Public Libraryâ and that the collection now included over 2,000 books. The building, an âold
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Free computer access is also provided through the library. Printing in black and white costs $ .05 per page. Color printing costs $ .10 per page. A one-day guest pass can be provided to out-of-county visitors who wish to use the computer upon showing their photo ID. Library cards are free for
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Study rooms are available on a first-come-first served basis. Meeting room reservations can be made for non-profit groups upon the receipt and approval of the meeting room application available on the City of Plant City Website.
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Bruton Memorial Library offers free access to multiple databases, such as JSTOR, Ancestry, Auto Repair Source, and MyHeritage. It also offers free access to tutoring websites like Lynda.com, Tutor.com, and Mango Languages.
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Access to e-books, e-magazines, e-audiobooks, and movie streaming is provided free through the library and runs on the following platforms: Overdrive, Libby, Hoopla, myON, axis360, RBDigital, Tumblebooks, and Flipster.
274:. The new computer system began operating in 1995, and in 1996 the card catalog was removed from use. By 1998, there was one computer available for Internet use, and the library added three more to help meet demand.
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double the size of its library building, and in 1971 the addition was completed. Mrs. Bruton died in 1989 and her husband donated $ 100,000 to purchase an adjacent piece of land to expand the library further.
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Mrs. Brutonâs husband donated another $ 200,000 for the expansion, which began construction in 1993. Fundraising for the library became formalized the same year, when in February 1993 the
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Hillsborough County residents with photo ID. If the photo ID does not have a Hillsborough County address on it, a piece of mail that shows the Hillsborough County address must be shown.
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again within the next four to six years. The City Commission agreed to the expansion, but as of 2010, there were no specific plans or timetable for it.
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In 1949, Bruton began campaigning for Plant City to begin operating its own public library. Meanwhile, the chair of the library committee enrolled in
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Library Board agreed that changes were needed and put OâDonnellâs recommendations into action to address all eleven issues.
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Out: a biweekly arts and crafts project, weekly Mahjong class, two book clubs and a monthly Master Gardener class.
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was incorporated. When the library opened the new expansion in April 1994, staff had begun the process of putting
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with the understanding that some of the funds would build a library, but the funding was put to other uses.
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Woitas, Nanette (29 October 1992). "$ 200,000 donation kicks off fund drive for Burton (sic) library".
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199:, âthere was not enough local interest and the opportunity passedâ. In 1925, the city sold
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Haywood, Anne (Fall 2007). "Plant City's Not So Extreme Makeover - Library Edition".
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Nicholson, Dave (27 April 1994). "New, improved library ready for the future".
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Remembering Plant City: stories from the winter strawberry capital of the world
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The new Plant City Public Library, with a north wall made of glass, was hit by
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Nicholson, Dave (6 April 1996). "Cards out, library taking catalog on line".
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515:(2nd ed.). Plant City, Fl: East Hillsborough Historical Society.
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Nicholson, Dave (11 July 1998). "Library up to speed on Internet".
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Six Decades of Service: A History of the Women's Club of Plant City
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Buildings and structures in Hillsborough County, Florida
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Geiger, Dave (15 September 1990). "City Library Grows".
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Bruton, Quintilla Geer; Bailey David E., Jr. (1984).
397:"Plant City Library Celebrating 50 Years of Service"
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537:"Library history ... through the decades"
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253:Quintilla Geer Bruton Memorial Library
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539:. Tampa-Hillsborough Public Library
159:http://www.plantcitygov.com/library
30:Entrance to Bruton Memorial Library
513:Plant City, its origin and history
331:Friends of Bruton Memorial Library
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430:. Charleston, SC: History Press.
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775:from the original on 2019-10-14
720:from the original on 2018-02-16
690:from the original on 2018-02-16
395:Oberlin, Aaron (28 June 2010).
375:Bruton, Quintilla Geer (1985).
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333:(nonprofit fundraising group)
222:Works Progress Administration
471:. Sanborn Map Company. 1919.
800:Public libraries in Florida
769:City of Plant City, Florida
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168:Bruton Memorial Library
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426:Gott, Gilbert (2007).
270:with a computer-based
260:Friends of the Library
142:850,000 (FY 2014-2015)
113:468,000 (FY 2014-2015)
197:Quintilla Geer Bruton
58:28.01861°N 82.12611°W
815:Plant City, Florida
224:to pay two clerks.
211:At this point, the
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166:The Quintilla Geer
78:Plant City, Florida
63:28.01861; -82.12611
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680:"Research A to Z"
637:Florida Libraries
615:The Tampa Tribune
600:The Tampa Tribune
585:The Tampa Tribune
495:The Tampa Tribune
453:The Tampa Tribune
401:The Tampa Tribune
295:Current Offerings
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664:October 14,
643:(2): 21â23.
150:Paul Shaver
110:Circulation
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794:Categories
655:"Calendar"
522:0912760346
338:References
92:Collection
714:HCPLC.org
684:HCPLC.org
659:HCPLC.org
49:82°7â˛34âłW
773:Archived
718:Archived
710:"eBooks"
688:Archived
568:April 2,
563:Facebook
543:21 April
411:21 April
264:barcodes
147:Director
74:Location
46:28°1â˛7âłN
182:History
170:is the
155:Website
126:Members
100:105,000
740:"FAQs"
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139:Budget
781:2019
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
