Columbus library history: First Lady Barbara Bush dedicates “new” Main Library

In April 1991, First Lady Barbara Bush was the featured speaker at the dedication of the renovated Main Library at 96 S. Grant Ave. in Downtown Columbus. 

Even though it had reopened three months earlier, and more than 352,000 people had already visited the new space, the formal dedication was held in April to accommodate the first lady’s schedule.  

The building opened in 1907 as a gift from industrialist Andrew Carnegie. It was one of 105 libraries he built in Ohio and serves today as headquarters for the Columbus Metropolitan Library system. 

Along with planning a week of dedication events, the library was also promoting its video collection (in both VHS and Beta formats) and its Telefax service for information delivery, all now considered obsolete. 

The Dispatch reported that Meribah Mansfield, then Main Library director, said she wasn’t surprised at the turnout of several thousand people to hear Mrs. Bush. "The people of Columbus think of this as their library, and it is," Mansfield said.  

Mrs. Bush told the crowd, "I learned to read in the warm and loving arms of family and in the warm and inviting rooms of the library. Reading is the key to all learning, and there is no better place to learn to read." 

She and President George H.W. Bush, and by extension their son, President George W. Bush, have family ties to Columbus. Her grandfather, James E. Robinson, lived here while serving as an Ohio Supreme Court justice. Her husband’s grandfather, Samuel P. Bush, was president of Buckeye Steel Castings. 

"I'll bet both our grandfathers used the original library," Mrs. Bush said. 

The “new” building was the result of a $39 million expansion, and it wasn’t the only thing that was changing. Library staff promoted access to its catalog in a pioneering way — via a home computer. The directions: “Just set your computer on a 24-line, 80-column display ASCII terminal, set your modem for any speed up to 9600 baud, 8 bit, parity none and stop one bit.” 

The Main Library reopened once again in 2016, this time with a more spacious, airy design. The recent makeover, which cost $35 million, was part of a long-term, $200 million effort to upgrade or replace most library branches. 

Contributor Linda Deitch was a Dispatch librarian for 25 years.