View source for Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

{{Short description|Public library system in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox library
| name               = Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
| logo               = Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh logo.svg
| logo_size          = 100
| logo_alt           =
| image              = Interior of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.jpg
| image_size         = 250
| alt                =
| caption            = Interior view of the main branch in the Oakland neighborhood
| country            =
| type               =
| scope              =
| established        = February 6, 1890
| ref_legal_mandate  =
| location           = [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|Pittsburgh]], Pennsylvania
| coordinates        = {{nowrap|{{coord|40.442728|N|79.950787|W|region:US-PA_type:landmark|format=dms|display=inline,title}}}}
| branch_of          =
| num_branches       =
| items_collected    =
| collection_size    = 5,230,200<ref name="2009annual">{{cite web|url=http://www.carnegielibrary.org/about/annualreport/2009/ |title=Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh 2009 Annual Report |publisher=Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101031164444/http://carnegielibrary.org/about/annualreport/2009/ |archive-date=2010-10-31 }}</ref>
| criteria           =
| legal_deposit      =
| req_to_access      =
| annual_circulation = 3,529,379<ref name="2009annual" />
| pop_served         = 2.6 million
| members            = 294,733<ref name="2009annual" />
| budget             = $26,879,454<ref name="2009annual" />
| director           =
| num_employees      =
| website            = {{nowrap|{{URL|www.carnegielibrary.org|www.CarnegieLibrary.org}}}}
| module             =
  {{Infobox NRHP
| embed                  = yes
| name                   =
| nrhp_type              =
| designated_other1      = PHLF
| image                  = CarnegieLibraryPittsburghFrontEntrance.jpg
| caption                = Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Main Branch in the city's Oakland neighborhood
| location               = 4400 Forbes Ave., [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|Pittsburgh]], Pennsylvania
| locmapin               = Pittsburgh#Pennsylvania#USA
| area                   = {{convert|9.5|acre|1}}
| refnum                 = 79002158<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>
| added                  = March 30, 1979<ref name=nris/>
| designated_other1_date = 1970<ref name="PHLF list">{{cite web | url = http://www.phlf.org/plaques/locallist.html  | title = Internet Archive: Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation: PHLF Plaques & Registries| date=2007-01-27 | access-date = 2008-02-25 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070127092030/http://www.phlf.org/plaques/locallist.html |archive-date = 2007-01-27}}</ref>
}}
}}

The '''Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh''' is the [[public library]] system in [[Pittsburgh]], [[Pennsylvania]]. Its main branch is located in the [[Oakland (Pittsburgh)|Oakland]] neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and it has 19 branch locations throughout the city.  Like hundreds of other [[Carnegie library|Carnegie libraries]], the construction of the main library, which opened in 1895, and several neighborhood branches, was funded by industrialist [[Andrew Carnegie]].  The Pittsburgh area houses the first branches in the United States.

The [[Pittsburgh Photographic Library]] is a [[photography]] repository held by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh of over 50,000 prints and negatives relating to history of Pittsburgh.

== History ==
The City of Pittsburgh was originally home to eight Carnegie libraries constructed at the turn of the twentieth century. In 1881, Andrew Carnegie offered a US$250,000 grant to the city for the construction of a public library on the condition that the city provided the land and annual funding for the maintenance of the property.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://old.post-gazette.com/ae/20030302carnegie2.asp|title=Carnegie's Library Legacy|last=Lowry|first=Patricia|date=2003-03-02|website=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|access-date=2016-04-21|archive-date=2016-05-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160509112640/http://old.post-gazette.com/ae/20030302carnegie2.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref>  The city declined Carnegie's initial offer out of concern that a publicly funded library was not a state-sanctioned use of public tax funds.  With the passing of several years and the state legislature's endorsement of the project, however, the city reconsidered the offer and reached out to Carnegie in the interest of accepting his grant.<ref name=":0" />

In 1890, the City of Pittsburgh accepted an expanded grant of $1 million for the building of the main library in Oakland and five branches in the neighborhoods of [[Lawrenceville (Pittsburgh)|Lawrenceville]], [[West End (Pittsburgh)|West End]], Wylie Avenue ([[Hill District]]), [[Mount Washington, Pittsburgh (neighborhood)|Mount Washington]], and [[Hazelwood (Pittsburgh)|Hazelwood]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.carnegielibrary.org/about/milestones.html |title=Historic Milestones |date=2014 |website=Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh |access-date=2016-04-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140110125422/http://www.carnegielibrary.org/about/milestones.html |archive-date=2014-01-10 }}</ref>  While the initial plan only called for those five branches, the city later received another three Carnegie libraries in the [[East Liberty (Pittsburgh)|East Liberty]], [[South Side (Pittsburgh)|South Side]], and [[Homewood (Pittsburgh)|Homewood]] neighborhoods.  Construction on the main library was finished in 1895 while the branch libraries were constructed over the following fifteen years, ending with the completion of the Homewood branch in 1910.<ref name=":1" />

Six of the original Carnegie library branch locations continue to serve as public libraries in their respective neighborhoods: Lawrenceville, West End, Mount Washington, Hazelwood, South Side, and Homewood.  The East Liberty branch was demolished in the 1960s as part of a redevelopment plan, and the Wylie Avenue branch was moved to a new location in 1982.<ref name=":0" />

In January 2022, the 201 members of the United Library Workers (ULW), the union of library staff, which organized with [[United Steelworkers]] in 2019, ratified their first contract with the library's management.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2022-01-08|title=Carnegie Library Of Pittsburgh Workers Ratify First Union Contract|url=https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2022/01/08/usw-carnegie-library-union-contract/|access-date=2022-01-16|language=en-US}}</ref> Environmental service workers and drivers had already been unionized with the [[International Brotherhood of Teamsters|Teamsters]] and [[Service Employees International Union|SEIU]].<ref>{{Cite press release|last=Steelworkers (USW)|first=United|title=Carnegie Library workers ratify first labor agreement|url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/carnegie-library-workers-ratify-first-labor-agreement-301456632.html|access-date=2022-01-16|website=www.prnewswire.com|language=en}}</ref>

==Branches/Locations==
* [[Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny|Allegheny]]
* Allegheny County Law Library
* Beechview
* Brookline
* Carrick
* Downtown and Business
* East Liberty
* [[Hazelwood Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh|Hazelwood]]
* Hill District
* [[Homewood Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh|Homewood]]
* Knoxville
* [[Lawrenceville Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh|Lawrenceville]]
* Library of Accessible Media for Pennsylvanians (formerly Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped) (Bloomfield)
* Main (Oakland)
* [[Mount Washington Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh|Mt. Washington]]
* Sheraden
* [[South Side Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh|South Side]]
* Squirrel Hill
* [[West End Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh|West End]]
* Woods Run

==Partnership with suburban branches==
For decades, CLP has partnered with suburban area branches, and, in 2014, talks were started seeking innovative ways to combine some services.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.post-gazette.com/local/region/2014/02/03/A-new-look-for-books/stories/201402030068|title=Allegheny County library systems look to cooperate|website=post-gazette.com}}</ref>

== Theft case ==
In 2018, the ''[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]]'' reported that nearly 320 rare books, maps, engravings, and other items had been stolen from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's main branch in Oakland, which houses the system's rare book collection.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2018/06/29/carnegie-library-pittsburgh-rare-books-stolen-search-warrants-gregroy-prioire-jonathan-schulman/stories/201806280184|title=Court documents detail theft of rare maps, books, prints from Carnegie Library|work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|access-date=2018-06-29|language=en}}</ref>  The items, including a 1787 document signed by Thomas Jefferson, were valued at more than $8 million.  In July 2018, a former library archivist and a Pittsburgh-area bookseller were charged with the thefts, which took place over a period of two decades.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|url=http://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2018/07/20/Two-men-charged-with-stealing-8-million-rare-books-Carnegie-Library-Greg-Priore-John-Schulman/stories/201807190205|title=Two men charged with stealing more than $8 million in rare books from Carnegie Library|work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|access-date=2018-07-20|language=en}}</ref>

It was one of the largest rare-book theft cases in history.<ref name=":3" /> According to the criminal complaints detailing alleged scheme, the archivist said that he "often removed items from the Oliver Room at the library's main branch in Oakland by carrying individual plates [and] maps in manila folders, or for books or larger items, by brazenly rolling them up and walking out." The archivist is alleged to have turned the rare items over to the bookseller, who would then sell them through his store.<ref name=":3" />

==See also==
{{commons category|Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh}}
*[[Allegheny Regional Asset District]]
*[[Pennsylvania Library Association]]

==References==
* {{cite book | author=Toker, Franklin | title=Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait | location=Pittsburgh | publisher=[[University of Pittsburgh Press]] | orig-year=1986 | year=1994 | isbn=0-8229-5434-6 | author-link=Franklin Toker | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/pittsburghurbanp00toke }}
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.carnegielibrary.org Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh]
* {{Gutenberg author | id=7956| name=Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh}}

{{Pittsburgh}}
{{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Library buildings completed in 1895]]
[[Category:Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Public libraries in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Libraries in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Pittsburgh]]
[[Category:Carnegie libraries in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Education in Pittsburgh]]
[[Category:Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmarks]]
[[Category:1890 establishments in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Pittsburgh]]