Head children’s librarian Janie M. Smith (left) and assistant Frances Blakeney (right) read to children during the Charleston County Library’s popular story hour in May 1954. Within one month of opening as the Charleston Free Library in 1931, it began offering routine storytime programming; within a year, it had attracted more than 9,000 members and had circulated 77,000-plus books through its bookmobile and original location within The Charleston Museum (then at Thompson Auditorium in Cannon Park). By 1935, the library required a new location, 94 Rutledge Avenue (pictured here in its lovely garden) where Smith would delight countless kids during her nearly 30-year tenure in the library’s children’s department. Today, the Charleston County Public Library operates four branches and seven community libraries. The main branch has been housed at 68 Calhoun Street since its grand opening in 1998 and is still offering an active children’s department with (currently virtual) story hours 90 years later.
