Pierre, South Dakota

History & Vision

Pierre Carnegie Library - built in 1905

R.E. Rawlins Municipal Library - built 1972

Hello! It is my great pleasure to talk about our Library’s exemplary history, record of contemporary service and vision for the future.

Rawlins Library has a fine history of providing library services to Pierre beginning in March 1903 when the well-known library philanthropist Andrew Carnegie agreed to donate $10,000 to erect a free public library in Pierre, South Dakota. However, a cost estimate indicated more money would be needed and in November of that same year, Andrew Carnegie agreed to increase his donation to $12,500, providing the City of Pierre would guarantee not less than $1,250 for annual maintenance. The City Commission agreed and subsequently the library was constructed at a cost of $12,151.

On March 10, 1905 the library was officially opened and Governor Samuel Elrod and Mayor A. W. Ewert gave welcome addresses.

For the next forty-plus years, the library flourished and was a source of pride to area citizens. Adults and children used the collection extensively and the library was always a beehive of activity after school.

However, the building was in some disrepair and in need of modernization so that by the early fifties it was necessary to obtain additional funding. Therefore, the Library Board presented to the City Commission a petition for an election to approve a levy not to exceed two mills for a Library Building Fund. On April 15, 1952, voters unanimously approved the levy and it went into effect on the appropriations budget in September. Truly, it was an outstanding expression of citizens’ support for their public library.

For another twenty years, the library continued to operate in what was becoming a more and more crowded environment. Therefore, by utilizing money from the Library Building Fund, it was possible to construct a new, modern library in 1972 for a total cost of $475,000, of which just $185,000 was financed in bonds.

The new library was named in honor of R. E. Rawlins who served as superintendent of schools for the Pierre School System from 1918 to 1948. It opened in November1972 and Mayor Clinton Gregory gave the welcome address.

The building is located at 1000 East Church Street and commands an excellent view of Pierre, the South Dakota State Capitol and surrounding Missouri River hills. It’s a handsome modular design with windows all around thus ensuring a light and spacious interior.

We are very busy providing a wide variety of meaningful library services with a growing collection of materials, resources in both print and electronic formats, and programs for adults, teens and children.

We are committed to adhering to the historical premise upon which the library was founded; and that is, to provide free public library services to area citizens. And I believe we must provide excellent free public library services.

Now just what do excellent library services mean?

First, it means a knowledgeable, friendly staff. Truly, everyone on our staff is dedicated to helping our patrons utilize the library’s resources most effectively. Our goal is to provide meaningful answers to your library questions.

Second, it means a collection rich in a wide variety of resources in many formats. Our circulating collection includes regular print books, large print books, audio books in cassette and CD formats, videos, DVDs, music CDs, and CD-ROMs. We have fiction and non-fiction best sellers, classics and contemporary titles; plus a highly recommended South Dakota history collection. Our reference collection is supplemented by many helpful online databases including encyclopedias, magazine and newspaper indexes. We also have colorful picture books, puzzles, puppets, early readers, theme backpacks and book/music sets for the kids. In fact, our collection includes more than 77,700 titles. And if we don’t have a title you want, we will gladly submit a request to borrow it for you from another library.

In the library, you can listen to music, read a newspaper or magazine, use your laptop computer since we have wireless access or use one of our public access computers to search the Internet or our online catalog or databases. You can use a typewriter, a scanner, fax machine and, of course, you can research a myriad of subjects in our non-fiction collection, or simply browse in a friendly environment for a good book. We continue to be very busy; in fact, more than 490 people visit our Library every day but we are never too busy to welcome you and help you find the library resources you need.

And third, it means we have outstanding library services and programs. For example, we have convenient hours and are open seven days a week, including four evenings. You can return borrowed items in our outside boxes anytime at your convenience. You can call us and we will gladly renew items for you so that you can enjoy them longer. You can also access our web site and browse our collection to reserve titles and renew items. And should you forget an item’s due date, you can return any overdue item inside the Library on Wednesdays and Sundays and the fine will be removed.

Our web site, http://rpllib.sdln.net is a great place to browse for information about upcoming events, the Library’s resources, staff, Board and services. We also provide helpful search links to reputable sites that provide a wide variety of useful information, including the City of Pierre, the South Dakota State Library, the South Dakota Library Network and the State of South Dakota.

We focus on early childhood literacy development because we know that kids who read, succeed. Furthermore, we want to develop strong library habits in our young people so they will be productive members of society, life long learners and library supporters. Our collection of preschool materials is highly recommended and we have developed an outstanding series of preschool programs for babies and toddlers.

We never forget our senior citizens, though, and we carefully select recommended books and magazines in large print and audio books and videos on topics of interest to seniors. Plus, we deliver titles to residents in retirement facilities, senior centers and nursing homes.

Many exciting activities take place at 1000 East Church Street, including daily events during the week of our Birthday, National Library Week, Teen Read Week and Children’s Book Week celebrations, exhibits from the Discovery Center, ongoing preschool storytimes; plus a vibrant Summer Reading Celebration that includes weekday activities for preschoolers, elementary school kids and teens.

As we prepare to celebrate our 103^rd year of providing meaningful public library services in March, I still have an exciting vision about how we will expand upon those services. First, we will continue to maintain our resources and facility by employing sound fiscal management and maintenance procedures. Second, we will continue to maintain a collection of relevant titles both in print and electronic formats. Third, we will introduce new services that will enable more people to utilize our resources. And, fourth, we will renovate our somewhat aging facility and we will expand our crowded facility when financially possible to do so.

As with all visions, it will take thorough planning, astute negotiations, like-minded partners, perseverance and just plain hard work to turn them into realities. However, we have a history of providing excellent library service for our patrons and I certainly have an enthusiasm for a future in which Rawlins Municipal Library will be an even more valued place of community learning and gathering where everyone is welcome.

January 2008