Austin Public Library’s yearlong centennial celebration now includes a Book Safe Harbor designation from the City Council and a six-floor birthday party at the Central Library on October 17.
The Austin City Council approved the designation August 27, committing the city to equitable access to library materials, the freedom to read, and established procedures for considering challenges to books and other materials. Austin joins a Book Sanctuary movement that began in Chicago, with Harris County establishing the first such sanctuary in Texas.
“Today we’re building on an Austin tradition of being on the right side of history by standing up for intellectual freedom,” council member Krista Laine said at a press conference announcing the measure. “In 2022, when attacks on libraries were beginning to intensify, Austin City Council took a stand and passed the Freedom to Read Resolution.”
The designation comes in the midst of ongoing effort by conservative leaders in Texas to ban books in various settings; most recently, a pledge by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to lower the ratings of school districts that put what some parents consider to be sexually explicit books on school library shelves.
The city's Library Commission passed the resolution in April of 2026, teeing up the City Council to approve it on their end. Laine sponsored the resolution with Council Members Vanessa Fuentes, José Velásquez, Mike Siegel, and Paige Ellis. The resolution was drafted and presented to coincide with the library system's October centennial celebration.
During the press conference, city and library officials displayed books that have faced challenges elsewhere, including Jerry Craft’s New Kid and The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Speakers said the designation was intended to affirm access to materials representing different histories, experiences, and viewpoints.
The vote comes during Austin Public Library’s centennial year. The city’s first public library opened in 1926 with 500 donated books, but its first permanent Central Library was completed in 1933 at West Ninth and Guadalupe streets. Austin architect Hugo Kuehne, a founder of the University of Texas architecture program, designed the Italian Renaissance Revival building using local Cordova cream limestone.
A circa-1860 photo of Edwin Waller, the first mayor of Austin. Part of one of the many photography collections of the Austin Public Library.Austin History Center Collection
A larger Central Library opened next door in 1979 and served the city until 2017. That year, APL moved into its current six-story Central Library at 710 W. César Chávez St., where the centennial party will be held. Centennial programs are also planned across the library system. September events include a Roaring ’20s quilting session at Pleasant Hill, 1920s music at Spicewood Springs, a stained-glass activity at Hampton at Oak Hill, “100 Years of Coffee” at Twin Oaks, and a 1920s murder mystery at Pleasant Hill.
The Austin History Center is also presenting In Circulation: A Century of the Austin Public Library. The exhibition uses archival photographs, timelines, architectural history, and stories about public access and civic change to trace the library’s development from a small reading room into a citywide system.
The celebration’s signature event is the free Centennial Party at Central on Saturday, October 17, from 10 am to 5 pm. Activities will take place across all six floors of the Central Library at 710 W. César Chávez St.
Scheduled attractions include:
- Austin PBS Family Fest and KUT’s ATXplained project
- Live music from Blue Dot Swing, Blowcomotion, Giulia Millanta, Casen Hutton, and Sriyam
- A cooking demonstration by chef Jess Maher of L’Oca d’Oro
- Live painting, digital illustration, printing-press projects, and caricatures
- An Austin History Center project recreating downtown’s historic Block 101
- A teen film and band showcase, birthday-crown decorating, and “Ask a Monster Anything”
Austin's first-ever Poet Laureate Zell Miller III will also appear. The party is open to all ages, and no admission is required.
