page_title: Fitchburg, Massachusetts
section_title: Library
hierarchical_section_title: Fitchburg, Massachusetts / Library
caption_attribution_description: Wallace Library and Art Building (built 1885), Fitchburg, Mass.
context_page_description: Fitchburg is a city in northern Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The third-largest city in the county, its population was 40,318 at the 2010 census. Fitchburg is home to Fitchburg State University as well as 17 public and private elementary and high schools.
context_section_description: The Fitchburg Public Library was established in 1859 after citizens of Fitchburg approved an article on the warrant requesting $1851 and quarters in the Town Hall for the first Fitchburg Public Library.
  In 1885, Rodney Wallace built and furnished the Wallace Library and Art Gallery at the corner of Main Street and Newton Place as a gift to the people of Fitchburg. In 1899, a child-specific library service began in one of the country's first Children's rooms.  It was not until 1950 that a new separate Fitchburg Youth Library was opened.  Service of the library was increased with the purchase of a bookmobile which extended service to outlying areas of the city.
  Fitchburg Public Library becomes the first regional library in the Massachusetts Regional Library System in 1962.
  The existing Wallace Library, named for George R. Wallace, Jr. and his wife Alice G. who provided the library building, was dedicated in 1967. The Federal Library Services and Construction Act, money from the City of Fitchburg also funded the project and the Helen E. Vickery Fund provided a new bookmobile.
  In fiscal year 2008, the city of Fitchburg spent 1.34% ($1,111,412) of its budget on its public library—some $27 per person. In fiscal year 2009, the city of Fitchburg spent .48% ($388,977) of its budget on its public library -- $9.23 per person. This represented a year over year drop in municipal funding of 65% between FY2008 and FY2009. As a result, the Fitchburg Public Library did not meet Massachusetts minimum standards of public library services and was not certified by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners for FY2009. It returned to certification in FY2012.
  Furthermore, on going support comes from the Friends of the Fitchburg Public Library. The Friends of FPL establish closer relations between the library and the people it serves, promotes support of services, and funds several important services such purchasing books for the library and the fees for the museum passes.  The Friends work with area museums to bring library patrons Museum Passes that can be used to visit exhibits for reduced fees.
  In 2014 the Fitchburg Law Library opened at the Fitchburg Public Library in response to the closure of the office on Elm Street in Fitchburg.  The new library location is fully accessible and open to the public.
caption: Public library, Fitchburg, ca.1907
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