COLUMBUS—Columbus Metropolitan Library’s (CML) staff and leadership want to share their gratitude and appreciation to the central Ohio community for helping the organization celebrate its 150th birthday in 2023. Throughout the year, staff have marked CML’s sesquicentennial by exploring and honoring its past, celebrating its present and envisioning and embracing the future.
Now with 23 locations serving Franklin County, CML has been “Open to All” since 1873, continually evolving to meet the changing needs of the communities it serves.
To show its gratitude, CML is sharing a special video from its staff, approved for media use.
Highlights from 2023:
- 21,752 people visited CML locations on its 150th birthday on Saturday, March 4
- 4,335 people attended the grand opening of the new Gahanna Branch that same day
- 48,098 people registered for CML’s 2023 Summer Reading Challenge
- 34,000 people attended the inaugural two-day Columbus Book Festival
- $3.1 million was given by Battelle to the CML Foundation, its largest gift ever received
- 12,871 egg prizes were purchased this summer from CML’s Egg Prize kiosk at the Columbus Commons
- 24 Columbus-based artists celebrated CML’s birthday with a special summer exhibit at Main Library
- 5,063 people attended CML’s Holiday Open House at Main Library in November
- 16 community organizations partnered with CML to offer library cardholders free and discounted deals or performances.
- 11 bestselling authors spoke during CML’s 2023 Sesquicentennial Author Series
