1907 Col. J. H. Gillespie was persuaded by the women of the Town Improvement Society to help establish the first library in Sarasota. The Colonel provided an upstairs room in the Badger’s Drugs (formerly Sarasota Bank) building at Main and Pineapple and donated the first 300 books from his personal collection. The Town Improvement Society purchased the shelving and the library was underway, open Saturday afternoons and later Wednesday mornings. 1914 The Woman’s Club took over the library and moved it in 1915 to the building that is now Florida Studio Theater. Sarasota population was then 1,276. The city appropriated $150 a year to keep the library open afternoons. 1926 Betty Wooden (Service), a high school student, became town librarian. The library then held 2000 books. She began the children’s collection with a donation of 300 of her family’s books and started the first story hours on the porch of the library. 193? Mrs. Service moved the library into two classrooms of a school building on Main Street. The Woman’s Club raised money and by 1936, the library held 10,000 books. 1939 The city of Sarasota took over full support of the library with a budget of $5000 a year. 1941 The Junior Chamber of Commerce began a fund drive for a new, larger, library, raising $6000. John and Ida Chidsey donated $16,500 for a 3000 square foot library. Thomas Reed Martin designed the library at 701 North Tamiami Trail. The Chidsey Building is now used as the Sarasota County History Center. Space was doubled 20 years later.   1968 Sarasota County took over jurisdiction of the library. 1976 The library moved to property between 6th and 10th streets (now Boulevard of the Arts) on Sarasota Bay after the city of Sarasota donated 4.7 acres of city-owned property. The William G. and Marie Foundation donated the largest contribution to the project, $500,000. A design, suggesting the look of sails was designed by Walter Netsch of the architectural firm of Skidmore Owings and Merrill of Chicago. 1998 The grand opening of the current Selby Public Library was held on Saturday, August 1998.  Designed by architect Eugene Aubry, the two-story building is 74,000 square feet and has space for approximately 300,000 volumes. compiled by Ilse Moon