On Friday, Oct. 30, beginning at 1 p.m., the Niles District Library will be celebrating a major milestone for the community: the library will receive the State Librarian’s Excellence Award. It is the highest recognition that a Michigan library can merit and the facility won out over hundreds of public, university, and school libraries throughout the state.

According to Niles Librarian Nancy Studebaker, who will be in Novi, Michigan on Friday accepting the award, the Niles District Library was chosen for the highest honor in the state based on several factors including community involvement and outreach, serving the people and the 19 libraries that make up the Niles District Library, and the institution’s tremendous efforts in leading and maintaining the highest level of advanced communications technology and the integration of computer programs to better serve our needs in the 21st Century.

What an extraordinary accomplishment for the Niles community! We should all be grateful to Nancy and her excellent, professional staff who made this award possible.

The Niles Public Library began in 1902 when Andrew Carnegie sold his steel company to J.P. Morgan and U.S. Steel for $200 million, making him the Bill Gates of his time. Andrews Carnegie founded the Carnegie Foundation with his wealth and began funding the construction of more than 2,800 libraries, including the Niles Public Library at East Main and Fourth Streets where the Four Flags Area Chamber of Commerce is now headquartered.

But as the community began to outgrow the Carnegie-endowed local library, local philanthropist Mrs. F.J. Plym stepped forward in 1961 and donated the money needed to build the current Niles District Library at East Main and Seventh streets. On Christmas Day 1962, Mrs. Plym formally turned over the new building to the citizens of Niles. Mrs. Plym and her husband F.J. Plym also donated the funds for Plym Park, Pawating Hospital, Fernwood Botanical Gardens and the current Niles First Presbyterian Church.

The Niles District Library was the first modern structure built in downtown Niles and was designed by Niles architect Trace Christensen. Its soaring rotunda was the focal point of the structure and still inspires awe today.

With three additional renovations and a major expansion to the west of the original 1962 building, the award-winning Niles District Library now includes a state-of-the-art computer center, the Mowitt & Eleanor Drew Art Gallery, and the brand new John Willis Wall of Wonder in the Children’s section of the Library.

The Willis Wall of Wonder is a gift from the Niles Noon Optimists Club and will feature computer screens showing real time events including NASA footage and live action cameras allowing visitors to watch and learn from images like the pandas at the National Zoo in Washington and the peregrine falcons nesting in South Bend and other online applications, and much, much more.

Mrs. Plym and Andrew Carnegie would be pleased to witness the expansion and evolution of the Niles Public Library into today’s award-winning Niles District Library, the best library in the entire state of Michigan. And it belongs to all of us!

 

A native of Niles, Jack Strayer moved back home in 2009 after living and working in Washington DC since 1976. Strayer has served as a congressional staffer, state legislative press secretary, federal registered lobbyist and Vice President of the National Center for Policy Analysis. He is a nationally recognized expert on federal health policy reform and led the fight for the enactment of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).