The Columbus Public School Library was a two-story building in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. It operated as the school library and administrative offices for the Columbus Public School District from 1892 to 1912. The library was established in the former First Methodist Episcopal Church, built in 1853 and extensively renovated for the district's use. The library opened in April 1892 and its ceiling collapsed in September 1912, leading to the building's demolition in 1913.
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The school library was located on a lot on the north side of Town Street in Downtown Columbus, Ohio, between Pearl Alley and Third Street. The building was reported in 1892 to be centrally located, accessible from every streetcar line, and architecturally handsome. The library was originally designed to house 40,000 volumes.
The building's front was made of buff Amherst stone and buff pressed brick. It featured a mosaic of blue freestone and Lake Superior portage stone around its main entrance arch and front gable.
The building interior included two stories and a basement. The basement held a 400-seat teachers' assembly hall, the office of the Superintendent of Buildings, storage rooms, and an unpacking room for the library. The front of the first floor held a telephone room, and lavatory in addition to well-furnished offices for the Clerk of the Board (including a fireproof vault), for the librarian, for the Superintendent of Instruction (a public office and a private office), and for the Truant Officer. It also held the library's reference room, holding numerous 28-inch-deep rolling bookcases, along with tables and chairs at the center. The front half of the second floor held board rooms committee room, a lavatory, visitors' lobby, principals' assembly room, offices for the superintendents of music, drawing, and penmanship, and the Board Hall, where the Board of Education met regularly.
The rear half of the building held the two-story Library Hall, an ornate room measuring . The hall was intricately decorated, with globe lights brightly lighting the room and shimmering against the blue tints and gold in the ceiling and walls. The space, originally the church's sanctuary, had a drop ceiling supported by steel beams. The ceiling was described as a "work of art" with rich paneling. The southern end of the room, facing the lobby and arched entranceway, held a 26-foot-long issuing counter. The counter was screened at each end with copper grill panels, connected beneath a metal arch studded with electric globe lights. Originally, the hall ceiling was arched high against the roof, altered during the remodel into the library. Much of the floor was used for bookcases fifteen double cases finished in antique oak, each able to hold 2,000 volumes. Eight were at the left, seven at the right, with a 20-foot-wide hall between them, holding distributing tables along with cabinets holding the card catalogue. At the back of the room was the cataloguing room, with shelving for 1,500 volumes.
The library was free for public use, supported through local taxes. It operated circulating and reference collections. The library was among the first in the nation to establish a relationship between libraries and schools by sending its books out to school buildings. It had some restrictions: when it opened, children under 12 had no library privileges. Around 1906, no girls under 16 could read novels on school district properties, nor withdraw any books of romance or sentiment.