Homewood Public Library celebrates 80 years

March 2021 marks 80 years of the Homewood Public Library serving the community.

Back in 1941, the library was just a room in Homewood City Hall. It later moved to 1755 Oxmoor Road, where Prime Time Treasures is currently located, and then the library moved in the ’90s to its current spot at 1721 Oxmoor Road.

In celebration of the library’s birthday, the library has planned some pandemic-friendly activities. For one, the community is invited to create a birthday card for the library throughout March and mail the cards to 1721 Oxmoor Road. These cards will be on display at the library for visitors to view.

The Homewood Library Foundation Board is providing giveaways for the month of March including HPL tote bags, HPL notebooks and birthday candy.

Also, the library is taking an idea from the New York Public Library. In celebration of its 125th birthday, NYPL highlighted 125 “NYC Books We Love.” HPL will have a similar event, highlighting 80 top library books throughout March.

Library Director Deborah Fout, who has been the director for 35 years, said she has often seen the library hit milestones and earn awards throughout the years.

“For 80 years now, this library has been so important to the city of Homewood and an important member of the Jefferson County Library Cooperative,” she said.

In 2014, HPL was the first library in Alabama to receive a Gold Level Standard Award from the Alabama Library Association, which is the highest award achievable with the association. HPL received this award again in 2017 and is the only library in the state to receive two of these awards.

The library has also received accolades from Library Journal. HPL received a Four-Star ranking from Library Journal in 2020, in addition to a Four-Star ranking in 2009, a Five-Star ranking in 2010 and another Four-Star ranking in 2015.

The library has been innovative in technology. In 2016, HPL was the first library in Jefferson County to have interactive self-checkout machines. The library was also the first library in Jefferson County to use self-checkout as the primary method for checking out materials.

It was the first library in the county to have an app for smartphones and tablets. It was also one of the first to offer streaming video and audio content for patrons. Fout said this has been particularly helpful during the pandemic, when some people are hesitant to visit in person or check out physical materials.

“This particular year with COVID-19 has been unprecedented, but I always tell people who want to work in libraries that you have to enjoy change because it changes constantly,” Fout said.

HPL is also an important library for those who enjoy studying outer space. HPL was the only library in Alabama to be awarded a NASA@ My Library Grant in 2017. HPL is the only public library in the state to be part of NASA’s Lunar and Meteorite Lending Program. Judith Wright, the library’s assistant director, has been certified by NASA to receive these samples to share with the public. The library is also the first library in the state to circulate telescopes.

“I’m really proud to be a part of this library,” Fout said. “I think the community of Homewood is lucky to have this library, and I know they appreciate it because we hear from them all the time, and we appreciate the community as well. Our council and mayor have been so supportive of our library as well. We’ve been really blessed, and we want to continue doing an outstanding job for the community.

“We’ve had a great first 80 years, and I know the second 80 will be just as good.”

Visit homewoodpubliclibrary.org for more information.