About Us
Welcome! Ferguson Library is your hometown library. We strive to be helpful and responsive to your needs. We provide a range of resources, from books and movies to online databases to lots of fun and informative programs. Our vision is to strengthen and develop the Ferguson community through lifelong learning and cultural literacy. We support education, information, recreation, and provide a welcoming public place for both community interaction and individual pursuits.
Libraries are helpers to the community, quietly providing resources and instruction so that individuals can develop skills and insight, to grow as people. Over time, this means that the library helps Ferguson become a better place.
The Ferguson Municipal Public Library District strengthens and develops Ferguson and its people regarding lifelong learning and cultural literacy. It brings the community together to create deeper bonds of commitment through shared experiences. The library provides an inclusive public resource that welcomes every member of the community. We believe in the freedom to read, to learn, and to discover.
The Library Board of Trustees adopts policies to oversee and review administration of the Library. Nine trustees are appointed by the Mayor of the City of Ferguson.
Ed Benton, President
Robyn Drew, Vice-President
Ruth Benner, Secretary
Mary Kay O’Neill, Treasurer
Richard Buthod
Lynn Kenney
James Knowles
Becky Mueller
Courtney Olmsted
Ferguson City Council Representative: Councilman Nick Kasoff, Ward 2
Meetings are the 4th Monday of each month at 7:00 p.m.
Click here for Board of Trustees meeting documents.
If anyone is interested in serving on the Library Board of Trustees, please fill out the Library Board of Trustees Application on the City of Ferguson’s website. If you have any questions about serving on the Library Board of Trustees, or any other board or commission for the City of Ferguson, please visit the Boards and Commissions page on their website or contact the City Clerk:
314-524-5152
110 Church Street
Ferguson, MO 63135
The Friends of the Ferguson Library (FLIERS) are a group of friendly, dedicated people who volunteer their time in support of the Ferguson Library. That support takes many forms and each member participates in those activities that best suit their time and talents.
The FLIERS officially meet two times a year in February and September. Activities take place throughout the year, including book and bake sales, taking books to shut-ins, and special programs. All monies raised by the FLIERS go to supporting the Library. You are invited to come to the next meeting. Visitors are always welcome.
Officers
Janie Norberg, President
Ron Norgard, Treasurer
Peter Norberg, Secretary
The Ferguson Municipal Public Library began as a volunteer community library in June 1930. Fourteen charter members of Chapter FH of the P.E.O. Sisterhood (Philanthropic and Educational Organization) were contacted in January of that year by the Missouri Library Commission in Jefferson City about the prospect of starting a public library in Ferguson as one of their educational projects.
A committee made up of Georgia Atwood, Ruth Geiser, and Grace Mounce proceeded to locate suitable quarters and to acquire books for the library collection. Mrs. Henry Walker, head of the library committee for the Kirkwood Public Library, was contacted through Georgia Atwood’s daughter, Mrs. Claude Fiske, who lived in Kirkwood. Mrs. Walker gave suggestions on how to start a public library and a gift of fifty books came from the Kirkwood Public Library.
Housing for the first library came from the Bindbeutel family who provided, rent-free, the use of a little frame building at the corner of Carson and Florissant Road. On June 1, 1930, the Ferguson Library opened with 575 books for its collection.
During the first three years of the Library’s existence, it moved several times. From the little frame building on South Florissant Road, the Library went to 114 North Florissant Road to a coal-heated room in an office building owned by Dr. Otto Schudde, next to White’s Funeral Home. The third move took the Library back down to the west side of South Florissant Road to where the Ferguson Hardware store is today. In the Spring of 1933, the Library went to the back of Deckmeyer’s Drug Store at 20 South Florissant Road. In September 1934 a City Ordinance was passed providing for the maintenance of a public library.
The library was located at 18 Church Street in the Bindbeutel Building from October 1937 to May 1952. The library moved to larger quarters in the new Municipal Building on Church Street when it was completed in 1952. The library expanded again in 1961 with the addition of the balcony annex. The library joined the Municipal Library Cooperative in 1966. In 1985 a computerized circulation system was added. In 1995 the library moved to its current location on Florissant Road. The Municipal Library Cooperative was disbanded in 1997 and Ferguson became part of the Municipal Library Consortium, sharing a patron and bibliographic database. The Missouri Research and Education Network upgraded the library’s data transmission line to a T1 connection in 1997, allowing fast Internet access. In 2007 Internet bandwidth was increased to two T1 bound circuits. In 2007 wireless hot-spot service was implemented for the community.
— Early History courtesy of Sue Ann Schlosser, Ferguson Librarian, May 1980
