Upon visiting the Madison Public Library today, it is easy to take for granted the existence of all the services, trained staff, works of arts, and other delightful features of the library. Of course, this all did not happen overnight but instead developed step-by-step. Below is a chronology identifying when many important events and acquisitions first appeared in the history of the library:
1875 - May 31- First day the Madison Free Library is open to the public; Madison becomes the 2nd public library to open in Wisconsin
1877 - First Catalog of the Madison Free Library published
1878 - First authorization of purchase of periodicals by Library Board: $100
1879 - First opening of library during the evening: Library Board authorizes library to be open three nights per week and pays a policeman $1 per week to attend
1889 - First electric lighting installed in library
1896 - First telephone installed in library
1900 - First request for help from the library in an industrial plant comes from the Gisholt Machine Co, in a request for a loan of books
1901 - First professionally trained librarian hired by Madison Free Library
1901 - First assistant for special children's work was hired
1902 - First children's room opened in library
1902 - First children's librarian hired by library
1902 - First typewriter in library
1903 - First deposit station opened
1906 - First building owned by the library opened at corner of Carroll Street and Dayton Street ("The Carnegie Building")
1908 - First male librarian hired
1908 - First woman appointed to library board
1908 -First stereopticon purchased for library
1908 - First bequest received by library- $1000 from Halle Steensland
1910 - First year Men's Reading Room opened (Also called "Smoking Room")
1910 - First library in Wisconsin to use moving pictures as an aid to the work of the public library is the Madison Free Library
1910 - First school library branch opened (Madison High School)
1913 - First branch library opens on 1249 Williamson Street
1918 - First celebration at library of "Children's Book Week"
1919 - First factory deposit station opened in the French Battery Company "in the care of a welfare worker and an educated woman"
1921 - First, and perhaps only, time Madison Free or Public Library receives no newspaper publicity during the year and the library "celebrates" this accomplishment
1924 - First book service to hospital patients offered (Madison General Hospital)
1944 - First radio program of Madison Free Library broadcast ("The Book News")
1948 - First year Madison Free Library has a record-lending service
1950 - First purchase of "ceiling book projectors" for use of hospital patients (gift from The Lions Club)
1953 - First Bookmobile service in Madison begins
1958 - First celebration of National Library Week in conjunction with national activities
1959 - First year Madison Public Library goes by this name (formerly Madison Free Library)
1959 - First overdue book case goes to small claims court
1960 - First Friends of Library group in Wisconsin formed at Madison Public Library
1961 - First Multilith (copy machine) machine in library
1968 - First city-county-historical society (Dane County Historical Records Center) historical center housed in Madison Public Library
1971 - First Municipal Reference Service serving both city and county established as part of Madison Public Library
1975 - First history of the Madison Public Library published: "Free and Public: One-Hundred Years with Madison Public Library"
1975 - First book theft detectors installed in library
1976 - First year Internal Revenue Service officials hold hours in the library to assist the public
1980 - First time in history of Madison Public Library a security guard position included in its budget