Eastmont Branch Library

Specialties

Eastmont Library’s collection includes 65,000 volumes, including reference and circulating titles of general interest to all ages. Highlights include a career section which has test preparation for high school equivalency exams, basic study skills guides, African American studies, ESL (English as a Second Language), and Spanish language materials.

The Eastmont Branch has 16 PC’s for public use with Internet access and Microsoft Office. Three are for children, two are for young adults, nine are for adults, and two are for Express use (20 minutes only). Computers shut down automatically 15 minutes before closing.

Meeting Room

The meeting room has a capacity of 35 people, and features collapsible tables, chairs, and a sink.

History

Established in 1887.

History of the Oakland Public Library

The Oakland Free Library opened to the public as a municipal entity November 7, 1878. It was the second public library founded in California (after Eureka) under the Rogers Free Library Act of 1878, an act of legislation allowing cities to levy taxes for the support of public libraries. The library had its origin in the Oakland Library Association, a subscription library established ten years earlier in 1868. Once the Rogers Act made it possible, the Trustees of the Oakland Library Association put into action the plan that would transfer all of its assets — building, books, furniture, and librarian — to the city of Oakland.

Early Librarians

The Oakland Free Library was personified in its earliest years by its librarian, Ina Donna Coolbrith. She was a well-​known poet, later to become California’s first Poet Laureate. Miss Coolbrith was succeeded by her nephew, Henry F. Peterson, in 1893. Charles S. Greene, poet and former editor of the Overland Mo