Over 170,000 book titles were published in the United States during 2007, with Fiction, Juvenile, Sociology, and Economics books comprising over a third of that total.* If you are looking to enter the publishing arena, the Literature Department has many resources to help you achieve your writing goals.

Whether you see yourself as a novelist, screenwriter, poet, journalist, or playwright, the Literature Department has materials that can help you locate an agent or publisher, hone your craft, or stir your creative juices.  Click here to see some highlights of the collection.

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On February 17, 1869 - Mayor Stephen S. Buhrer announced the opening of the Cleveland Public Library.  The Library was housed on the third floor in a building located on West Superior Avenue.  Present at the dedication was Mayor Stephen S. Buhrer, Board of Education President E.R. Perkins, and Rev. Anson Smyth who stated that "the library would grow and prosper for a thousand years under the fostering care of the board."

The original collection had approximately 5,800 books (2,200 were inherited from the old school district library). The additional volumes were purchased from the proceeds of the new tax authorized by the state in 1867.  Today, it is a complex consisting of two main library buildings and 28 branches. 

Read more about the history of Cleveland Public Library.

A new children’s book, Our White House Looking In, Looking Out, commissioned by the National Children's Book and Literary Alliance, features contributions from over 100 children’s books authors and illustrators.  David McCullough, the historian, provided the introduction.  In an interview about the book, Mary Brigid Barrett, the Alliance’s  President, Executive Director, and Founder, describes her visits to the White House and her childhood memories of Cleveland:    

"Also during that conversation, David McCullough raised my awareness to the fact that our founding fathers and mothers adamantly believed that this great experiment of democracy was going to succeed only if all of our citizens young and old were both literate and informed. We discussed the direct link between literacy, historical literacy and civic engagements...

I had spoken and discussed these issues with both First Lady Clinton’s staff at the time and with Mrs. Bush and I’ve had the opportunity to be able to wander around the first floor of the White House and while you’re there, you do actually kind of hear the echoes of voices and footsteps in the hall. You’re being watched by all those incredible presidential portraits; the eyes of the former first ladies and the presidents looking at you and I kind of had the same feeling walking through the first floor of the White House as I did the first time I walked as a kid going into the main reading room of the Cleveland Public Library that this was my space. And that this was our house, the White House, it’s your house and my house."

-Mary Brigid Barrett

See: Interview with Mary Brigid Barrett

We’d like to welcome the start of the New Year by reminding you of many of the things the Cleveland Public Library can do for you.  In addition to our most remarkable collection of books and magazines, including many in foreign languages, we have collections of maps, photographs, newspapers, government documents, music cds, dvds, and millions of other things!  The neighborhood branches offer outstanding children’s services, computers, textbooks, and a welcoming place to be on these chilly days. The Bookmobile is out and about in the city...

Our librarians and other staff can help you with resumes and preparing for interviews; you can take Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, and many other classes. We can help you find a poem, an old recipe, a stock quote, or the name of the restaurant that your grandmother used to take you to.  We can help you find industry trends, popular names for girls, and out of town phone numbers.

In times like these, more than ever, we’re here to help.

Are you looking for a family friendly place to watch the Cleveland Browns on the big screen? If so please visit the Cleveland Public Library where selected games will be shown on Sunday afternoons in the Louis Stokes Wing Auditorium. Please click here for a list of scheduled games to be shown. Cleveland Public Library also has a great collection of books, photographs, and newspaper articles on the Cleveland Browns. Some noteworthy titles are First and Last Seasons: A Father, A Son, and Sunday Afternoon Football by Dan McGraw, False Start: How the New Browns Were Set Up To Fail by Terry Pluto, For Browns Fans Only!!! by Rich Wolfe, Cleveland Browns A to Z by Roger Gordon, and many more. For additional information please call Social Sciences Department 216-623-2860 or come in and check out our collection.

Image text: "Browns vs. Dallas. Jim Brown. Browns touchdown 1st quarter from 10. Oct. 17 1966"

Image Source: Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection

The Patent and Trademark Depository Library Program (PTDLP) is a wonderful resource for anyone seeking assistance in learning more about patents and trademarks. There is a complete Patent and Trademark Depository Library available to you at the Cleveland Public Library, Government Documents Department, 4th floor, Louis Stokes Wing.

Read more about the patent library program in the April 2008 issue of Inventors Digest: The Magazine of Idea People.

Contact the Government Documents staff at 216-623-2870, and watch the events calendar for ONLINE PATENT SEARCHING classes offered in the Computer Learning Connection.

One of the Cleveland Public Library's great strengths is its wide-ranging collection of African American authors from Ohio. The following selection of works by African American poets, playwrights, and novelists includes early literary pioneers such as Charles Chesnutt and Paul Laurence Dunbar and contemporary writers like Nikki Giovanni and Toni Morrison.

Cleveland Public Library’s Main Library Drive-up Window

Did you know that you can check out books and other library materials from the comfort of your car at Main Library’s drive-up window? Located at the rear of the Louis Stokes Wing, across from the Cleveland Board of Education (on Rockwell Avenue, just west of East 6th Street), the drive-up window can be used to check out and return books, magazines, audio/video recordings, and software--even to sign up for a library card! You can have books and other materials sent to the drive-up window for pick-up by selecting “Cleveland Public Library: Main Library Drive-Up Window” when placing a reserve in the Library’s online Catalog. You may also telephone any of the Main Library subject departments and request that library materials on any subject be sent to the drive-up window for pick-up.