Editing Alachua County, Florida (section)

== Library ==
[[Alachua County Library District|The Alachua County Library District]] is an independent special taxing district and the sole provider of public library service to approximately 250,000 citizens of Alachua County. This includes all of the incorporated municipalities in the county. It maintains a library headquarters and four branches in Gainesville. These locations include the Millhopper Branch in northwest Gainesville, the Tower Road Branch in unincorporated Alachua county southwest of Gainesville, the Library Partnership Branch in northeast Gainesville, and the Cone Park Branch in east Gainesville. The district also operates branches in the Alachua County municipalities of Alachua, Archer, Hawthorne, High Springs, Micanopy, Newberry, and Waldo, as well as a branch at the Alachua County Jail. The district's two bookmobiles visit more than 25 locations in the county from two to five times a month.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Locations {{!}} Alachua County Library District|url = http://www.aclib.us/locations|website = www.aclib.us|access-date = December 4, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title = Alachua County Sheriff's Office|url = http://www.alachuasheriff.org/jail/inmate_programs.html|website = www.alachuasheriff.org|access-date = December 4, 2015|archive-date = December 8, 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151208052142/http://www.alachuasheriff.org/jail/inmate_programs.html}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title = Bookmobile stops {{!}} Alachua County Library District|url = http://www.aclib.us/bookmobile-stops|website = www.aclib.us|access-date = December 4, 2015|archive-date = December 5, 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151205093307/http://www.aclib.us/bookmobile-stops}}</ref>

=== Library history ===
The [[Alachua County Library District]] traces its origins to 1905, when the Twentieth Century Club in Gainesville started a subscription library. The Gainesville Public Library, a subscription library operated by the Library Association, opened in 1906. The Twentieth Century Club donated the books from its subscription library, and the new library also received books from the library of the East Florida Seminary, which had been absorbed by the newly founded University of Florida.

The Gainesville Public Library became a free library in 1918, supported by funds from city taxes from all residents, but it was available only to whites. The building was constructed with the aid of a [[Carnegie library]] grant. The library became a department of the Gainesville municipal government in 1949. It was not until 1953 and opening of the Carver Branch Library that the city's African Americans had access to a library, as public facilities were still segregated. The Carver Branch closed in 1969, after the main library's desegregation.

In 1958, the city of Gainesville and Alachua County agreed to jointly operate the library for the county. Branch libraries opened in High Springs, Hawthorne, and Micanopy the next year, and a bookmobile was put into service. Alachua County joined with Bradford County to operate the Santa Fe Regional Library. After Bradford County withdrew from the Regional Library, the Alachua County Library District was formally established in 1986. The Millhopper and Tower Road branches opened in 1992, and the branches in Alachua, Archer, Newberry, and Waldo were all opened by 1997. The Library Partnership Branch opened in 2009, and the Cone Park Branch in 2011. A new, permanent location for the Cone Park Branch Library opened near the Eastside Community Center in Gainesville on December 14, 2013.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://digital.lib.usf.edu/SFS0000116|title = Florida Library History Project|access-date = December 4, 2015|archive-date = December 8, 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151208114338/http://digital.lib.usf.edu/SFS0000116|url-status = dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title = Alachua County Library District Heritage Collection|url = http://heritage.acld.lib.fl.us/1051-1100/1100.html|website = heritage.acld.lib.fl.us|access-date = December 4, 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304023009/http://heritage.acld.lib.fl.us/1051-1100/1100.html|archive-date = March 4, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title = Cone Park library hosting grand opening|url = http://www.gainesville.com/article/20131211/GUARDIAN/131219916|website = Gainesville.com|access-date = December 4, 2015}}</ref>