Board of Trustees

Panel 2 - 3 Board Purchases Hilltop Land.jpg

Board purchases land for Hilltop Branch, 1946

Board members on the Finance Committee complete their purchase of the land for the Hilltop Branch on March 4, 1946, from Harry and Alberta Markins. Here they exchanged a check for $7,000 for the abstract of title and warranty deed. From left to right are Alberta and Harry Markins, board members Rose Briggs Ferguson and Jacob A. Meckstroth, and head librarian John Pugh.

1957 Board Members

Left to right are members Walter H. Kropp, Harold F, Adams, R. Carlisle Moffitt, Jacob A. Meckstroth, Margaret E. Carroll (the Head Librarian), Marion E. Smith and Rose B. Ferguson. Meckstroth is the longest-serving board member, having served from 1929 to 1970.

Rose Briggs Ferguson was one of four trustees, along with Frank Warner and Emilius O. Randall, to serve for more than 30 years.

The library’s seven-member Board of Trustees is responsible for setting the strategic direction for the library and making financial decisions. This includes everything from capital projects like building new libraries to supporting vital services like School Help and Ready for Kindergarten. The Board is instrumental in guiding library leadership as it looks to the future for viability and sustainability.

The ordinance establishing the library and its board, including selection of trustee members, passed on January 15, 1872. Four members were selected by City Council, and there were three ex officio members, including the mayor, the President of the Council, and the President of the Board of Education.

Over the next 100 years, the library expanded county-wide and the board organization changed. In 1976, Columbus City Council voted to create the County Library District. The Ohio Revised Code’s library board requirements for county library districts went into effect, providing the structure that exists today: the Franklin County Board of Commissioners selecting four trustees and the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas selecting three. Trustees have a term of seven years.

1975 Board Members

Left to right are board members Dr. Evelyn Luckey, A. Leonard Nusbaum, Robert Carlile and A.C. Strip, 1975.

Annie Norton Battelle, the first woman trustee, joined the board on February 1, 1920, and there has been at least one woman on the board ever since. In 1934, three women were trustees together for the first time: Elizabeth Norman, Cora Brickell and Lora Kirk. The first time the board included four women trustees was 2022, with Katie Chatas, Sandy Doyle-Ahern, Catherine Strauss and Carla Williams-Scott.

Annie Norton Battelle

Annie Norton Battelle was a suffragette who became the first woman to serve on the Columbus Public Library’s board in 1920.

Image courtesy of Battelle.

Reverend Ward S. Parham

The Reverend Ward S. Parham was the first Black member of the library’s board. In addition to his work with the library, he was the president of the Columbus NAACP, and a pastor at Bethany Presbyterian Church. He was appointed in 1970 and served until 1973, when he resigned to go to the Woodland Avenue church in Camden, New Jersey.

Dr. Evelyn Luckey

Dr. Evelyn Luckey was elected the first Black president of the library’s board in 1985 and served on the board from 1973-1988. Dr. Luckey was an educator and started teaching first grade at Beatty Park School in 1957. After several promotions she became an assistant superintendent for the Columbus City Schools.