Madison Public Library marked its 150th anniversary with a look at how far it’s come and where it’s headed. As a third space and a community cornerstone, its story is still being written.
Madison Public Library turned 150 in May and marked the occasion by celebrating not only its long-standing commitment to books, but its expanding role as a hub for learning, connection and community care.
With nine branches across the city, the library sees more than 2 million visits each year. In 2024 alone, it circulated over 2.2 million items and issued over 15,000 new library cards.
For library regulars like Trang Hoang, 24, a marketing professional focused on public health and higher education, the library is a near-daily retreat. She sometimes visits up to three times a day.
“I was a book fair kid” before turning “a library adult,” Hoang said, noting how the library’s mission of producing resources for the public has mirrored the arc of her own life.
Hoang still remembers listening to her first audiobook, “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” on Libby, a library app offering e-books and audiobooks through Wisconsin’s Digital Library. Asked if she’d recommend the book, her answer came quickly: “Yes!”
Personal stories like Hoang’s highlight the library’s deep connection to the community and a legacy stretching back to its beginnings in 1875.
A century and a half of service
The city’s first library opened inside Madison’s old city hall with a modest collection of just under 5,000 books. Back then, access was limited to men over the age of 15, and patrons couldn’t browse the shelves; instead, the single librarian retrieved books upon request.
By 1901, the library, then named the Madison Free Library, hired its first professionally trained librarian, Bertha Brown, who would go on to launch children’s services and open a dedicated children’s reading room the following year. Storytimes began shortly after and have remained a beloved transition.
Liz Boyd, digital services and marketing manager at Madison Public Library, said access to information and lifelong learning were as valued in the library’s early days as they are today. “That’s something to celebrate,” she said.
A place to belong
While books remain central, the library’s offerings these days go far beyond the stacks. Patrons can access computers, online databases, streaming services and news outlets – all free of charge.
Through the Library of Things, patrons can check out unique items like birding backpacks, complete with binoculars and field guides, or pick up seeds from a collection of 50 plant varieties to start their own garden.
These offerings reflect the library’s evolving identity as a “third space” — a term coined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg in his 1989 book “The Great Good Place.” Third spaces are public gathering spots beyond home and work, where community connection and civic life flourish.
Boyd said that the library is highly intentional about cultivating a sense of belonging and carving out spaces for different purposes. Even subtle choices like soft chairs and calming colors are part of that design.
“You’ll see… softer places that you can sit and relax versus when you’re at computers or areas that feel more formal. I think those subtle cues kind of tell you how to interact in spaces,” Boyd said.
One example is the Pinney PlayLab at Madison’s east side Pinney Library, which is a flagship play space designed for exploration and comfort.
Boyd said that even small gestures, like offering snacks to kids or stocking library food pantries in partnership with the River Food Pantry, help build connections with patrons.
“It’s not showy, it’s not something that is necessarily even talked about,” Boyd said. “But if you’re a kid who comes in everyday and you need something to eat, it means something to you that that’s there and available.”
Welcoming without barriers
For Emily Treffert, 21, a student at UW–Madison, the library is a “genuinely public” place she can go without having to spend money to stay.
“You don’t feel guilty for being there too long,” Treffert said, and added that welcoming and inviting spaces like that, with no financial barrier, are “ so important not only for folks like myself” but also “young children or young families.”
Madison’s libraries are curated to meet those needs. At Sequoya Library on Madison’s near west side, Rachel Davidson, a community engagement librarian, leads programs like “Find the Picture,” a weekly scavenger hunt that helps young patrons practice communication skills by describing what they found to staff in exchange for a small prize.
“They’re doing this mental exercise, intellectual exercise, and then they come back to the desk, get your attention. And then they have this tiny conversation with a grown up that they don’t necessarily know,” Davidson said.
Davidson notes the kids often come back feeling “jazzed” and empowered.
“And then it builds relationships. Because they grow up coming to the library,” Davidson said. “If you start out with, ‘Here’s the prize basket,’ eventually it’s like, ‘Can you help me find where the Dog Man comics are?’”
Davidson, who grew up visiting her local Kansas library, said many of Sequoya’s clubs and programs are based on community input. “If there’s something you’d like to see at the library, tell us that,” Davidson said. “The reason we have the twice a month sewing club is because a patron came up to me at the desk and said, ‘Wouldn’t it be neat?’”
She added that libraries provide an increasingly rare kind of personal service.
“It’s also a person space. Like if somebody calls here, they talk to a person, which is becoming more and more rare,” Davidson said. “We certainly see a lot of elders who come in like, ‘I don’t know how to do this thing.’ And the person who sold them that thing, isn’t going to help them figure it out. But we will.”
Treffert recalled the excitement of getting her first library card in Madison with her friend, Julia.
“We were just very excited to have access to so many more books, but also having another space in the area that if we ever needed to go for printing or research of any kind – or just to get some more professional opinions on something – that the library is a space where we could do that,” Treffert said. “I think we both walked out with like five books each.”
A space for everyone
At Central Library, business and technology community engagement librarian Martín Alvarado helps shape environments to meet different patron needs.
“We want people to be here, and if they’re here, they’re having a conversation at a reasonable volume – then great. The library is a fantastic place for people to do that,” he said. But it’s also important for the library to have “a floor that’s a little bit quieter, just because that’s one thing that a lot of people can’t afford, or don’t have a space” that’s quiet at home, Alvarado added. “We want to maybe have different environments where people can meet their needs.”
Alvarado also said the team is working to make the library more sensory-friendly by adding fidget tools and visual cues that help reduce stimulation.
“If we really want to be welcoming, we want to have those as a service, as an item that people can use when they’re in the library,” Alvarado said.
For Alvarado, librarianship is a personal path. His grandmother and mother’s cousin were librarians, and his own career began with a student job in undergrad at Madison’s Monroe Street branch. Today, Central Library has community-driven programming, with artist residencies and workshops on digital skills.
“The idea is that you come into the library and you can have an art lesson or a workshop that’s managed by someone who is putting out materials, props or different things to do,” Alvarado said. “In terms of driving interest, it really drew in a whole other set of people who were looking more for experiences, that maybe also pick up a book, but maybe they just want to come to the library to have that creative interaction or go to events.”
Advocating for the future
Even as the library looks back on 150 years, staff are focused on the future – especially amid political challenges.
In March, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aiming to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the agency that provides federal funding to libraries and museums.
Though a federal judge issued a block on the order in May, the threat remains. Madison Public Library created an online advocacy hub to inform the public and encourage action. One of the simplest ways to support the system? Get a library card and show up.
“We feel like it is our duty to advocate for libraries, not just locally, but regionally, nationally, because this is something that is going to affect a lot of libraries,” Boyd said. “I really see our role continuing to be responsive to community need. I think that that's something that we do fairly well, so I hope that that continues. You know, we want to keep listening.”
