Upper Darby Township + Sellers Memorial Free Public Library

Mission Statement:

The Upper Darby Township & Sellers Memorial Free Public Library serves the community without exception by providing access to books, materials, and programs to support lifelong education, personal growth, and creativity.

The Upper Darby Township and Sellers Memorial Free Public Library system dates from the 1930s. Beginning with a small collection of 1300 gift books in two rented rooms, the library has grown to a library system with three branches and a collection of over 118,00 books, magazines, audiobooks, music CDs, and DVDs available for borrowing. Highlights:

1930

• Planning committee first meets in May. By September, the library opens at 571/2 North 69th Street. The collection moves to the McClatchy building in October.

1935

• Hoodland is renovated and opens that summer as a public library. The Children’s Library is located on the second floor; the Adult Library on the first floor.

• The Upper Darby Township Library in the Municipal Building and the Sellers Memorial Library are formally combined into the Upper Darby Township and Sellers Memorial Free Public Library.

• Sellers Library designated as the Main Library; Municipal Library is named the Municipal Branch.

1953

• Bookmobile service begins. Starting with a trailer pulled by a station wagon, the service grows steadily through the 60s and 70s.

1957

• Upper Darby Township assumes responsibility for the buildings and grounds of the Sellers property from the Sellers Board.

• A unified Upper Darby Township & Sellers Memorial Free Public Library Board of Directors is established.

1975

• The Patrick J. Martin Wing of the Sellers Library opens, housing the Adult Library and work areas.

1977

• Municipal Branch is renovated.

1980

• Primos Branch Library opens in the Westbrook Park-Primos-Secane area of the township. Its first home is in the former offices of the Nu-Way Trash Removal Corporation.

1981

• The Delaware County Library System is established and the Sellers/Main Library is designated an Area Resource Center.

1983

• Bookmobile discontinued. At its retirement, the bookmobile maintained a collection of over 4000 volumes and visited every part of the township.

1985

• The first computers are installed in the libraries, used for office and administrative work only.

1989

• The traditional card catalog is replaced by DELPHI, an integrated computerized catalog. Patrons can now see what every Delaware County library owns.

• Primos Branch moves into the closed Primos Elementary school. The branch remains here even after the school reopened in 1992. The School and Library develop a unique relationship that lasts even after the library moves to new quarters.

1994

• Sellers/Main receives one of the first public access Internet stations in the county from DCLS. By 2007, the UD libraries as a system offered 38 public Internet access computers, 9 computers for word processing, desktop publishing and spreadsheets, and wireless Internet access at all three libraries.

1995

• UD’s first computerized circulation system is installed. Over the next few years, the three branches move from stand alone systems to networked systems, and finally in 2002, to a fully integrated real time county wide circulation system.

2004

• Primos Library relocates to its current home, the renovated Westbrook Park-Primos-Secane Fire house.

2006

• The library begins a fundraising effort to renovate the old Sellers Barn, largely unused since the retirement of the bookmobile.

2011

• The Municipal Branch moves from its old location on the ground floor of the Municipal Building to its new home at 501 Bywood Ave. This location, the site of the former Temple Israel synagogue, includes a parking lot and a community meeting room.

2021

• Upper Darby Township staff painted and fixed the old Sellers Barn and planted trees around the property in celebration of Arbor Day.

The Library Board adopted a strategic plan in 2021, and it may be viewed here.