Louisville Free Public Library

Additional branches were added over time, including the Western Colored Branch, which was the first Carnegie-housed library in the U.S. built solely for African Americans. Thomas Fountain Blue was appointed head of the Colored Branch in 1905 as well as the Eastern Colored Branch when it opened in 1914; he also started the first library training program for African Americans in the United States.[4]

The infamous Flood of 1937 damaged both the Portland and Main branches. Since 1908 a museum was opened to the public in the basement of the York Street branch. After the devastating flood, the museum was temporary relocated to the Monserrat school. In 1971, the museum moved downtown to West Main Street to become the Louisville Science & History Museum.

In 1950 the library became the first library in the nation to put its own FM-radio station on the air—WFPL. A second station, WFPK, joined it a few years later. In 1969, a $4 million north building was added to the classicizing Carnegie structure. This provided an additional 110,000 square feet (10,000 m²) of floor space, compared to the 42,000 sq ft (3,900 m²) in the original building.

At one time LFPL had over 30 branches, but a number of them were forced to close due to lack of funding. Currently, there are 16 branches, in addition to the main library site. Internet services and inter-library loan have helped to make up for having fewer branches.

In 2007, a proposed tax increase to pay for Louisville Free Public Library improvements and ongoing costs was soundly defeated in spite of strong support by many political and business leaders. Nonetheless, with the help of the Library Foundation and community support, a new education and technology-driven, $1.9 million branch library[5] was completed and opened in the Newburg area (a traditionally underserved community) in August 2009.

In early August 2009 the main branch was flooded when a storm dropped 7 inches (18 cm) of water on the city in 75 minutes. The library servers, bookmobiles, offices, and processing rooms were under 6 feet (180 cm) of water. 50,000 books were destroyed, and the building severely damaged, with a total estimate of $5 million. Structural, mechanical, electrical, and computer systems damage were near complete, forcing the main library to close for several weeks. Other branches in the system in hard-hit areas were closed for a few days while damage was assessed and cleanup undertaken. The library system itself remained open for business throughout the event. The last time the main building had flooded was in the Ohio River flood of 1937. Three other branches of the library system were damaged or affected in the flooding as well: Bon Air Regional Branch, Iroquois Branch, and Shawnee Branch libraries. Despite the level of damage, library services at all branches, including the main, were able to return to near full service.

The Main Library serves as a central hub to the library system, including facilities, content management, and administration. In addition to the Main Library, LFPL has 16 branch libraries. The main library was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.[6]

The majority of LFPL's employees are employed through a collective bargaining agreement between AFSCME Local 3425 and Louisville Metro Government.

• Bennett H. Young, founder.
• Mayor Charles F. Grainger, founder.

• Louisville Free Public Library

• Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Louisville Free Public Library, The Library, 1905, OCLC 1644732, OL 20486125M
• Louisville Free Public Library (1914), Some books in the Louisville Free Public Library of interest to Catholic readers, Louisville, Ky, OCLC 8107487, OL 6581880M