Next up: Jan Kaminis Platt Regional Library, 9/14/2013

Celebrating...

Jan Kaminis Platt Regional Library

3910 S. Manhattan Ave.

Tampa, FL 33611-1214

September 14, 2013 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

About the Jan Kaminis Platt Regional Library

Jan Kaminis Platt

The Jan Kaminis Platt Regional Library was dedicated and opened to the public on December 11, 2000. This 25,000 square foot regional library is the 22nd branch in the county's library system and serves the South Tampa community seven days a week. The facility is named in honor of Jan Kaminis Platt, who has served the community for over 20 years as a member of the Tampa City Council and as a Hillsborough County Commissioner. A fervent advocate for libraries, she was named to the American Library Association's "Freedom to Read Honor Roll" and received the "Best Friend of the Year" award from the Friends of the Library of Hillsborough County, Inc. in 1999. For 13 years this library housed and operated the county's Talking Book Library.

About the Talking Book Library

Groundbreaking ceremony, Tampa Tribune, December 8, 1999

The Hillsborough County Talking Book Library is a sub-regional library of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. This free program provides recorded and braille books and magazines to people who are blind, visually impaired or physically handicapped. Hillsborough County’s Talking Book Library began in 1972 and its collection was located in the system’s main library in downtown Tampa, now called the John F. Germany Public Library. In December of 2000, it was moved to the Jan Kaminis Platt Regional Library when it opened and remained there until 2013 when it relocated to the building next door, the library system’s Technical Services Center. 

We invite all Jan Kaminis Platt Regional Library and Talking Books Library patrons, past and present, to join us at this Library History Roadshow. 

• Did you ever attend a special program, story time or a computer class at the library? 
• Have you had a positive experience with library staff?
• Have you ever found information at the library that improved your quality of life? 
• Did you ever use bookmobile service before the library was constructed? 

Come and share your library memories and memorabilia and help us as we gather and digitize this historic information for the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library archival collection. 

Even if you are new to the area and have only just begun to use the library, we want to hear from you!  For more information about Library History Roadshow events, please call: 813-273-3652.



7/20/2013: Seffner-Mango Branch Library

On July 20th, the Library History Roadshow visited the Seffner-Mango Branch Library. Despite the rain, both images and memories of the library were captured through interviews with local library patrons.

Jack Bishoff was happy to share his experiences of the Seffner-Mango Branch Library with us. He believes in taking advantage of all that the library has to offer and has made great use of some of the library's genealogy databases. Through HeritageQuest and Ancestry (Library Edition) he has found some very interesting information about his ancestors: 

Laura Barnes, shared her enthusiasm for her local library and recalls when the Seffner-Mango Branch opened in her neighborhood several years ago. 

Thank you to everyone who braved a rainy Saturday to come out to share memories for this edition of the Library History Roadshow and thank you also to the Seffner-Mango Branch Library staff for hosting -- we had a great time and enjoyed meeting all of you! 

The next roadshow will take place September 14, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Jan Kaminis Platt Regional Public Library. 

Though it's a long way off, preparations are well underway for our library system's Centennial Celebration! Please mark your calendars for our large kick-off event taking place New Year's Day, January 1, 2013 at the West Tampa Branch Library!