Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1955-02-24
They Worked, Begged, Sold Pies
To Breathe Life into City Library

at Lincoln Park, which operated
for two years but was then aban-
doned as an unnecessary duplica-
ton which was impractical.
In 1850, after the establish
ment of the County Library, the
Association thought of the pros
and cons of joining the County
Library syst m and voted
against it as being not advan-
tageous to Rockville at that time.
The Board kept its mind open
and considered various aspects
of the question from time to
time.
In 1851 the Board came to the
following conclusions: ID The
Town Council had agreed to sup
port the Library at that time and
had expressed its continued salts
faction with the administration
of the Library and the service it
was performing for the town.
The Board felt both gratitude
and loyalty to the Mayor and
Council for its support. (2) The
budget suggested by the County
Librarian for the Rockville Ii
brary was considered inadequate.
CD Arrangements for housing
the Library were the Library to
become a county agency were
most uncertain. In view of these
conclusions, the Board voted that
"thc Rockville Library Associa-
ton should remain under the
auspices of the town for the COM
ing year 0951-52) and that stu
alton shall exist as long as it is
mutually agreeable"
On November II, 1851 the Lii
brary Association held an Open
House at the Library to honor
the newly elected member of it's
board, to observe Book Week
and see the Library's large ex-
hibit of new Children's books,
and to celebrate the Library's
fourteenth anniversary in the
Academy Building.
From the $50 books with which
it Started, the Rockville Library
has grown to $3.50 at the end of
June, 1858. From the year, 1887,
when the Library moved to its
present quarters the circulation
has grown from 5000 books a
year to over 2S,000.
Where in 1924 the Association
appropriated 81 a month for the
purchase of children's books, the
Library bought 1862 children's
books in the fiscal year just past
and almost all of them cost
81! The ladies of the Associa-
ton earned $500 in 1919 selling
ice-cream at the Fair Grounds.
The Library was granted $1,000
this year by Rockville's Mayor
which the Board of Education
and Council. In both cases the
money went for books, repairs,
supplies where it would do the
most good for the reading public.
Where the Library Association
hired its first Librarian in 1897
and was open a few hours
week, the Library now has Ii
brarian and two part-time as
sistants and the Library has
been open &c hours a week since
the summer of 1851. Story Hour
attendance grows and grows and
grows and hundreds of Rockville
children participate in the Libra
RVS summer reading program.
There were 1857 registered Dor
roWers at the end of the fiscal
year-and that figure counts
husband and wife as one.
Voting membership in the AS
ISOLATION was reduced to 81 a
year in 1858, making it available
to all residents who wish to take
an active part in the administra-
ton of a civic enterprise. The
Library has been improved in
many ways as the years have
rolled by, but its success today
as an agency enjoyed by people
of Rockville from every area and
every walk of life all goes back
to those days in the little build
ing on the school grounds with
the willing workers who swept
the floors and carried in the
wood between checking out the
books they'd begged for, worked
for, and sold pies for!