Florida Library History, circa 1998

I am going to Florida on Sunday, so I have Florida on my mind. I found out about the Florida Library History Project and was pleased to know the entire thing is available online as a big PDF. Some enterprising student could, with the permission of Kathleen de la Pena McCook get it online crosslinked and searchable.

The Florida Library History Project (FLHP) began in January 1998. Letters requesting histories were sent to all public libraries in Florida with follow-up letters sent after an initial response was received from the libraries. E-mail messages were sent out to FL-LIB listservs encouraging participation in the project. A poster session was presented by USF research assistant Catherine Jasper at the 1998 Florida Library Association (FLA) Annual Conference, an event that marked FLA’s 75th anniversary. At the end of this funding period, 89 library systems and organizations had provided histories. These have been compiled and are reproduced in this volume as submitted by participating libraries. Highlights include library founding, collections, services, budgets and expenditures, personnel, funding, survey results, technology, and developments.

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