Williams Library

Closed until 9am

Directions 501-376-4282

Overview

Location

1800 South Chester Street
Little Rock, AR 72206

This Week's Hours

  • Sunday CLOSED
  • Monday 9:00 am – 6:00 pm
  • Tuesday 9:00 am – 8:00 pm
  • Wednesday 9:00 am – 6:00 pm
  • Thursday 9:00 am – 8:00 pm
  • Friday 9:00 am – 6:00 pm
  • Saturday 9:00 am – 6:00 pm

Manager

Latina Sheard

Email
Williams Library FacebookRock Region Metro

Amenities

  • Community Fridge
  • Community Pantry
  • Birdwatching kits
  • 3D Printer
  • Charging station
  • Courtyard with benches, picnic tables, and oversized games
  • Fishing poles
  • Makerspace
  • Meeting room
  • Podcast spaces
  • Public computers
  • Study rooms 2-person & 4-person
  • Teen area with PS5 w/ (4) controllers, Nintendo Switch w/ (8) controllers, (2) Xbox systems w/ (2) controllers, and (6) 1-hour internet computers and charging station
  • Telescopes
  • Wi-fi

About Williams Library

The tenth library in the Central Arkansas Library System was dedicated in Sue Cowan Williams’s honor on March 22, 1997. Fittingly, the Sue Cowan Williams Library serves the community near the historic Dunbar High School building in downtown Little Rock, where Williams taught.

Cowan’s teaching career at Dunbar High School in Little Rock began in 1935. She resided with her father at 1518 Cross Street. Seven years later, she had apparently married, as the city directory shows her last name changing to Morris (though what happened to her husband is unknown), and became the plaintiff in a class action lawsuit seeking a balance of salaries between Black and white teachers in the segregated South. The suit, Morris v. Williams, was filed on February 28, 1942, and followed a March 1941 petition filed with the Little Rock School Board requesting equalization of salaries between Black and white teachers. The trial, heard in the court of Judge Thomas Clark Trimble III, lasted one week, with the verdict going against her. Morris’s appeal was heard in 1945 in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, Missouri, and was decided in her favor.

Today at the Williams Library, patrons can see the same commitment to education and equal opportunity that inspired Sue Cowan Williams to take a stand. Williams offers a wide range of programs for children and teens.