Centennial

ALBANY PUBLIC LIBRARY CELBRATED OUR 100TH ANNIVERSARY IN 2023!

We were thrilled to commemorate our Centennial with a series of events, programs, and activities for our wonderful community to enjoy at APL’s seven libraries across the city of Albany. APL thanks the Friends and Foundation of Albany Public Library for their generous support of Centennial events.

SOME OF OUR CENTENNIAL PROGRAMS

• We kicked our Centennial celebrations off with the first-ever Albany Public Library Day on May 21, 2023, at the Howe Branch! Read a recap and see some photos from this wonderful community block party. You can read the Times Union story about the library’s Centennial and APL Day. And watch the News10 story about the Centennial celebrations.
• And even though we had rain, the Centennial Summer Celebration at Delaware on June 24, 2023, was a wonderful family party marking our 100th anniversary and the start of Summer Reading!
• The Friends & Foundation of APL hosted a lovely fundraiser celebrating our 100th anniversary on Oct. 21, 2023, at the new Cafe Madison restaurant location. The Times Unions has some wonderful photos from the evening.

A LITTLE APL HISTORY

Our library has a long and varied history, which actually dates back more than 100 years.

• APL’s origins began in 1833, when the Young Men’s Association for Mutual Improvement in the City of Albany (YMA) formed and opened a member library a few months later.
• It wasn’t until May 21, 1923, that the NYS Legislature created Albany Public Library, moving five libraries run by the YMA to city government.
• A year earlier, the YMA, which operated its library in Harmanus Bleecker Hall, as well as the John V.L. Pruyn Library on N. Pearl St., had taken over responsibility of the Albany Free Library, which operated libraries in the South End, Delaware, and Pine Hills areas as far back as 1891.
• After being part of city government for 79 years, APL then made another major change: on May 21, 2002, city residents voted to allow the library to recharter for autonomy over its budget and operation, and board members elected by city residents.
• APL’s most recent major development was the complete renovation of three branches (Delaware, Howe, Pine Hills) and construction of two new branches (Arbor Hill/West Hill, Bach), all of which opened between November 2009 and June 2010.