Franklin Public Library (Massachusetts)

{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}

{{Infobox library

| library_name = Franklin Public Library

| library_logo =

| image = Franklin Public Library in Franklin Massachusetts MA USA.jpg

| caption =

| country = United States of America

| type = Public Library

| established = 1790

| location = Franklin, Massachusetts

| num_branches = 1

| items_collected =

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| legal_deposit =

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| annual_circulation =

| pop_served = 33,092 (2020 census)

| members =

| budget = $836,477

| director = Felicia Oti

| num_employees =

| website = {{URL|https://www.franklinma.gov/233/Franklin-Public-Library}}

| phone_num = (508) 520-4941

}}

Franklin Public Library is the first and oldest public lending library in continuous existence in the United States. It was founded in 1790 in Franklin, Massachusetts, with a donation of books from Benjamin Franklin.{{cite book |last1=Dawson |first1=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BKWWAwAAQBAJ |title=The Public Library: A Photographic Essay |publisher=Chronicle Books |date=2014-05-27 |isbn=9781616893279 |quote=In 1790 the citizens voted to lend the books to all Franklin inhabitants free of charge. The vote established the Franklin collection as one of the first public libraries in the United States. }} It is currently located at 118 Main Street in Franklin,A History of America's First Public Library at Franklin, MA Bicentennial Commemorative Edition (1990) http://www.franklinma.gov/franklin-public-library/pages/history-americas-first-public-library-franklin-ma at the edge of the downtown Franklin area, right next to Dean College.

A town in Massachusetts chose to name itself Franklin after Benjamin Franklin, and Franklin donated 116 books to the town in lieu of a requested church bell.{{cite news |last=Baughman |first=James C. |url=http://web.simmons.edu/~watkins/baughman.pdf |title=Sense Is Preferable to Sound |work=Library Journal |date=1986-10-15 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140912110435/http://web.simmons.edu/~watkins/baughman.pdf |archivedate=2014-09-12 |accessdate=2018-10-21 }} Franklin's town meeting voted to lend the books to all Franklin inhabitants free of charge in 1790, and this small collection can therefore be considered the first public library in the United States. In 1904, the Ray family donated the current Ray Memorial Building which was dedicated as the first permanent building for the library collection. The Franklin Library Association was in charge of the library until 1981 when town of Franklin began running the Franklin Public Library directly as a department of the town.{{cite web |url=http://www.franklinma.gov/franklin-public-library/pages/library-history |title=Library History |work=franklinma.gov |publisher=Town of Franklin |url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20181021005809/http://www.franklinma.gov/franklin-public-library/pages/library-history |archivedate=2018-10-21 }}

File:Franklin Public Library in Franklin Massachusetts USA.jpg|Rear view of the Franklin Public Library with contemporary addition

File:Benjamin Franklin statue at Franklin Public Library in Franklin Massachusetts MA USA.jpg|Benjamin Franklin statue at Franklin Public Library