The 1778 date is for the Franklin Public Library in Franklin, MA.
Apparently there was also a Church in Charleston, SC that was lending
books even earlier.
On Jan 24, 2005, at 1:07 AM, Dawn Di Stefano wrote:

> I believe Franklin, Massachusetts claims this honor.  See
> http://www.franklin.ma.us/town/library/libboards.htm  under "Franklin
> Library History."
>
> Dawn Di Stefano
>
>
> At 01:01 AM 1/24/2005 -0500, you wrote:
>> The first lending library in the US was established with a gift from
>> Benj Franklin in 1778. Where and when was the first lending library?
>> I've tried just about every search I can think of and not come up with
>> an answer.
>