When was the last time you stepped foot into a library?
For Corpus Christi resident Emily Allen, it’s all the time.
Inside the Janet F. Harte Public Library in Flour Bluff, Allen recalled visiting La Retama Library when it was located in downtown Corpus Christi. She said she and her father would stop by and she’d spend a “lovely hour” picking out books to read.
“There is something very special about holding a book in your hands and turning the pages as the words keep going,” Allen said. “You don’t get that as much with an eBook. You don’t get that at all with an audiobook. I think a library may change how it does things over the years to meet the needs of the community, but I would hope libraries will always continue to exist.”
It began with the La Retama Club
The Corpus Christi Public Libraries started off after a group of young women, known as the La Retama Club, in 1907 wanted to bring literacy to the community. Nearly 120 years later, the simple dream turned into six public libraries.
But throughout the past century or so, these book havens have faced staff shortages, renovations, relocations, closures and a recent shakeup of board members.