Massachusetts Public Library Trustees Handbook

The list of "firsts" associated with public library development in Massachusetts gives evidence of the historic commitment of state government and the people of Massachusetts to these services.

In 1848, the Massachusetts General Court enacted legislation granting the City of Boston the right to establish a public library, the first such legislation in the world. Three years later the legislature extended to all cities and towns the authority to establish and maintain libraries with public funds.

In 1889, Melvil Dewey, whose name is synonymous with public library development, was able to say, "All nations recognize the United States as leading in the matter of (public) libraries. The United States recognizes the New England states and especially Massachusetts as its head."

In 1890 the General Court established the Massachusetts Free Public Library Commission as the nation's first state library development agency, and authorized the country's first state aid to local libraries program. This aid was in the form of one hundred dollars worth of books to every town establishing a free public library, appointing a board of trustees, providing facilities and establishing an appropriation of local funds.

Since 1900, each of the nation's fifty state legislatures has created a state library agency and has charged that agency with developing library service. The term "state library agency" is used generically, since the actual names of the agencies vary.