Louisville Free Public Library, Louisville

The Louisville Free Public Library (LFPL) is the largest public library system in Kentucky. Officially opened in 1908, the library's main site resides south of Broadway in downtown Louisville. Additional branches were added over time, including the Western Colored Branch, which was the first Carnegie-housed library in the U.S. built solely for African Americans. In 1950, LFPL became the first library in the nation to put its own FM-radio station on the air – WFPL.

In 1969, a $4 million north building was added to the Revival-style Carnegie structure. This provided an additional 110,000 square feet (10,000 square meters) of floor space, compared to the 42,000 in the original building. At one time LFPL had over 30 branches but, because of lack of funding, a number of branches were forced to close. Currently, there are 16 branches, in addition to the main library site. Internet services and inter-library loan have helped to make up for fewer branches.