History

Our Roots

The rich his­to­ry of DeKalb Coun­ty Pub­lic Library (DCPL) began in 1925 when the Decatur Library was found­ed by a group of cit­i­zens meet­ing to form a Pub­lic Library Asso­ci­a­tion. In 1930, the Decatur Library hired its first full-time librar­i­an, Maud M. Bur­rus, who lat­er served as library direc­tor for 31 years. The Library oper­at­ed a ​“coun­­ty-wide divi­sion” through the 1930s, and sup­port­ed 25 book depos­i­to­ries in pri­vate homes around DeKalb County.

The ear­li­est known lend­ing library in DeKalb Coun­ty was start­ed in 1907, when Lula Almand of Litho­nia gath­ered books in her home and invit­ed local cit­i­zens to freely read and bor­row. The lend­ing library was expand­ed by the local Woman’s Club and became known as the Litho­nia Pub­lic Library. Ini­tial­ly housed in the Wom­an’s Club build­ing, the library was added as an offi­cial Decatur Library Sys­tem branch in 1938. A major mile­stone in 1940 was the oper­a­tion of DCPL’s first Book­mo­bile, fund­ed by the Roo­sevelt administration’s Work Progress Admin­is­tra­tion (WPA). From 1938 to 1962 in then-seg­re­­gat­ed DeKalb Coun­ty, library ser­vice to African Amer­i­cans was pro­vid­ed through the Carv­er Branch Library oper­at­ed in the Her­ring Street School as a coop­er­a­tive effort with the Decatur Board of Edu­ca­tion. This seg­re­gat­ed library ser­vice qui­et­ly came to an end in DeKalb Coun­ty in 1962, when Eliz­a­beth Wil­son and her daugh­ter reg­is­tered for and received library cards at the Decatur Library. Wil­son lat­er became the first African Amer­i­can to be elect­ed May­or of Decatur.

Grow­ing by Leaps and Bonds

From its first city and coun­ty bond issues in the late for­ties, funds from bond elec­tions have been vital to the Library’s growth. None was more impor­tant than the 1986 bond issue, which fund­ed expan­sions or replace­ments of four exist­ing coun­ty library facil­i­ties, includ­ing the Decatur Library, as well as 11 new library branches.

The library sys­tem under­went sim­i­lar expan­sion in the wake of a 2005 DeKalb Coun­ty bond ref­er­en­dum. This bond autho­rized funds for a major build­ing project that added two new branch­es and replaced, expand­ed or upgrad­ed 10 more.

100 Years and Growing

In 1974, DCPL wel­comed Doris K. Wells, the system’s first African Amer­i­can librar­i­an. Her influ­ence and ded­i­ca­tion to the com­mu­ni­ty, books and read­ing made a last­ing imprint on DeKalb Coun­ty Pub­lic Library’s patrons and staff, and the annu­al Doris K. Wells Her­itage Fes­ti­val con­tin­ues to hon­or her lega­cy and African Amer­i­can her­itage and community.

Over the decades, DCPL has intro­duced sev­er­al ini­tia­tives to expand library ser­vices across the coun­ty. For­mer pro­grams include the Book­mo­bile library ser­vice to homes, jails, schools, and oth­er loca­tions in DeKalb, Rock­dale, and New­ton coun­ties; and kiosk libraries in South DeKalb Mall and two MAR­TA sta­tions, Dorav­ille and Avondale.

The Library reimag­ined how it served patrons in the wake of the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic. It added vir­tu­al events, curb­side ser­vices, Wi-Fi access to library park­ing lots and more. In 2022, DCPL elim­i­nat­ed over­due fines to remove bar­ri­ers to access library ser­vices. Today, DeKalb Coun­ty Pub­lic Library oper­ates 23 branch loca­tions, with most DeKalb res­i­dents liv­ing with­in three to four miles of a branch. The Library has more than a mil­lion books, eBooks, eAu­dio­books, and DVDs for patrons to bor­row, along with Chrome­books, Wi-Fi hotspots, and Launch­pad tablets for chil­dren. Patrons have access to dozens of online resources, acces­si­ble 24 – 7, includ­ing stream­ing media and online tutor­ing. From its begin­ning as the Decatur Library on April 13, 1925 to the mod­ern DeKalb Coun­ty Pub­lic Library 100 years lat­er, DCPL remains com­mit­ted to respon­sive ser­vice for the peo­ple of DeKalb Coun­ty and being a place to grow.