The members read books such as the history of Rome, Lives of the English Poets, Goldsmith's Greece, and Don Quixote.

Forwarding thinking in his views, Oviatt wanted to provide books that would interest both children and adults, the mechanic, businessman, and scholar.

The Clevnet consortium of libraries entered in a $50,000 setup-free agreement with the Cleveland-based company OverDrive to allow patrons to download text from e-books to their personal computer.

The project began with a $4.1 million renovation of the South Branch, which transformed the 1911 Gothic Revival structure into "...a light-filled jewel box."

The renovations included the restoration of Dominance of the City[20] a large mural painted by Ora Coltman in 1934 for the Federal Arts Project.

[27] The two buildings are connected by an underground corridor below the Eastman Reading Garden, which was designed by landscape architecture firm OLIN, and includes sculptures by Maya Lin and Tom Otterness.

Carnegie was so impressed with Brett's money management of the funds, he eventually increased the amount to $507,000, which built 15 branches-the foundation for what would become one of the largest branch systems in the United States.

Children living in the city's poorest manufacturing districts could not visit the library downtown or the new branches, so William Howard Brett and Miss Eastman put small reading collections in neighborhood homes.

By 1913, there were 57 "home libraries" in seven different working class districts, serving 11 different nationalities: Italian, Greek, Syrian, Polish, Bohemian, Hungarian, Slovak, Irish, German, Danish, and Norwegian.

[30] The Special Collections Department was created through the work of John G. White, who served as president of the Cleveland Public Library Board of Trustees from 1884 to 1886 and 1913 to 1928.

In addition to donating and purchasing many rare books to the library, White underwrote the construction of the Fine Arts and Special Collections reading room and the Exhibit Corridor.

Most materials are hosted on the library's online catalog, but some are only accessible through the Fine Arts and Special Collections reading room.

"Sommer's Sun" by Edwin Mieczkowski's, Christopher Pekoc's "Night Sky", and "Public Square" by Robert Jergens.

[35] Hanging from the Main Library entrance hall is a large terrestrial pearl-gray art glass globe made by the Sterling Bronze Company in 1925.

[36] The portraits of former members of Congress Louis Stokes and Stephanie Tubbs Jones are housed at the Cleveland Public Library, painted by artist Khaz Ra'el.