Cincinnati's public library was among the first to try providing service to patrons on Sunday. Starting in March 1871, the reading rooms at the main library were open from 8am to 10pm. Sunday library service was so popular that, according to library director William F. Poole, "often during the afternoon and evenings every seat has been occupied". As a result of Cincinnati's experiment, the public libraries in New York, Philadelphia, and St. Louis adopted Sunday hours as well. Poole reported that "many of that class of young men who previously strolled about the streets on Sunday, and spent the day in a less profitable manner, habitually frequenting the rooms and spending a portion of the day in reading."