A Brief History of PLCMC
The roots of the Public Library of Charlotte Mecklenburg County can be traced to 1891 when, during a period of Charlotte history characterized by boom and civic pride, a group of prominent citizens organized the Charlotte Literary and Library Association. This subscription library operated in rooms above a book store on South Tryon Street for nine (9) years under the direction of librarian Bessie Lacy Dewey.
In 1901, directors of the Association transferred control of the Library to the city school commissioners with the understanding that the general public as well as the students would have access to the collection. The Library was now the Charlotte Public School Library located in two rooms in City Hall at the corner of North Tryon and East Fifth Street. The arrangement lasted two years with librarian Sallie H. Adams in charge.
Charlotte was soon to have its first true public library in a building dedicated for that purpose. In 1901, philanthropist Andrew Carnegie agreed to donate $25,000 for a library building for Charlotte if the city would furnish a site and taxes to support operations. The tax was approved by vote of citizens on May 6, 1901. The building, with an imposing classical facade, was dedicated and opened to the public on July 2, 1903 in the 300 block of North Tryon Street.
 The Carnegie Library's 1903 charter also provided for a public library to serve Blacks. The Brevard Street Library for Negroes, the first public library for Blacks in the state, opened at the corner of Brevard and East 2nd Streets in 1905 as an independent institution. It became a branch of the Charlotte Public Library in 1929 and continued in operation until it closed in 1961.
The first push for county-wide service came under Anne Pierce who became head librarian in 1918. In the following year the Library Board and the City and County Boards of Education established school libraries as public library branches. In 1929, a grant from the Julius Rosenwald Fund was used to establish town branches in Cornelius, Davidson, Huntersville, Matthews and Pineville. However, progress was halted with the arrival of the Great Depression in 1931. Rosenwald funds were withdrawn, the operating budget was drastically cut and staff was reduced from 28 to 11 people.
 During the administration of James E. Gourley the Library began a slow and uneven recovery from the Depression. Through a pilot project funded by the North Carolina Library Commission, bookmobile service was established to serve the rural areas of the county.
In 1938, a North Carolina Supreme Court decision ruled that appropriating funds for the support of public libraries was unconstitutional without a vote of the people. A 1939 election in Charlotte to provide funding beyond the $2,500 approved in 1901 failed by a small majority. The Library was closed June 30, 1939 and was to remain closed for a full year. In a May 1940 election voters finally did approve the funding, and the Main Library reopened July 1, 1940. Branches were operating by the fall of the year.
Hoyt R. Galvin became director of the Library in November, 1940. He was to remain for thirty years and guide the Library through a long period of growth and development. The Business Information Service, established in 1940 on the suggestion of one of the Library trustees, James R. Bryant, has continued to serve Charlotte's business community to this day. In 1942 an educational film service was initiated and in 1947 record albums were first loaned. This service evolved into the Library's Film and Sound Division, one of the first programs of its type in the nation and a model for other public libraries.
 In 1948 the Library began receiving a percentage of profits from Alcoholic Beverage Control stores in Mecklenburg County. With this income the Library purchased two "mobile libraries" to serve outlying areas. The bookmobiles operated until 1965 when, with the opening of additional branches, this service was judged no longer to be cost effective.
 Expanded services and increased use by the public of the Library had created a critical need for additional space at the Main Library and the town branches. In 1952 Charlotte and Mecklenburg County voters approved a bond issue in the amount of $1,600,000 for a new Main Library and nine (9) branch buildings. The Main Library, a modern complex featuring translucent marble and glass, was built on the site of the razed Carnegie building. It was completed at a cost of $1,100,000 and opened to the public on November 19, 1956.
 New buildings also replaced rented facilities for the five town libraries and four new branches were opened: East Branch, West Branch, North Branch and South Branch. In the next two (2) decades a long list of additional branches were established to keep pace with the rapid growth both the city and county were experiencing: Mint Hill Branch in 1958, Derita Branch in 1960, Sharon Branch in 1963, Northwest Branch in 1964, Tryon Mall Branch in 1968, Alexander Street Branch in 1973, Independence Branch in 1974 and Belmont Center Branch in 1975.
Hoyt Galvin retired as director in 1971 and Arial Stephens was named his successor. In 1979, the Library began the process of converting the records of the book collection to machine-readable form in preparation for automating the circulation system for the first time. ALIS (Automated Library Information System) was put into operation in the Main Library in the summer of 1980 and the branches were brought on-line over the next two years.
The 1980's brought rapid changes to the Library. Arial Stephens resigned in November of 1982 and was followed by Ronald Kozlowski (1983-1985) and Robert E. Cannon (1986 - 2003), with Judith K. Sutton serving as acting director in the transitional periods.
 In 1983, Mecklenburg County voters approved a $9.3 million bond package which included funding for a major expansion of the Main Library, expansion of the Matthews branch and a new branch for the Hickory Grove area. In the following year, funding was made available for additional branch construction projects. Three (3) of the new branches were opened in one (1) year - 1985: Scaleybark Branch, West Boulevard Branch and Carmel Branch (incorporating the collections of the Pineville Branch which was subsequently closed). The Hickory Grove branch was opened in 1986 with an on-line public access catalog which, for the first time, made it possible for patrons to view the holdings of the entire library system.
 The new Main Library, which opened June 18, 1989, included a three-story addition to the completely remodeled 1956 building. Construction began in July of 1987, while the Main Library staff, along with a portion of the book collection, moved to temporary quarters at 425 South Tryon St. The new Main Library, with more than twice the space of the old facility, accommodates expanded services, provides additional meeting space and offers the public on-line access to the collections through a new $1.5 million computer system. Designed by Middleton, McMillan Architects, of Charlotte, in association with Morris Architects and Aubry Architects, the building incorporates design details which allude to the 1903 Carnegie Library building.
Additional library bonds have been passed by the voters since 1989. The Morrison, University City and Independence Regional Libraries opened prior to the end of 1996. North and South County Regional Libraries opened in 1997 and 1998, respectively. New branch libraries have been built by bonds: West Boulevard Library and Learning Resource Center (1996), Beatties Ford Road (1997) and Mint Hill (1998).
In the last years of the 20th century, the library system grew to over 20 locations (including five regional libraries offering expanded services) serving people in neighborhoods and towns across the county. From a grand total of 2,526 books when the Carnegie library opened in 1903, today's library system contains over 1.5 million adult and children's classics, favorite paperbacks, modern best sellers, videos, CDs and DVDs, with over 500 employees county-wide helping to make information available to virtually anyone who wants it. As the county and region grows, the Library reaches out in traditional and new ways.
Library staff present at least 10,000 programs to adults and children each year. Programs are as diverse as the people who attend them, drawing people of all ages and walks of life to libraries each day. The Novello Festival of Reading has been a fixture in the Charlotte region since the early 1990s and is known and admired nationally. It is a week long regional festival that stresses the fun of reading, especially for children. Over 40,000 children and adults attended Novello events in 1999. In 2000, Novello celebrated its tenth year with the publication of Novello: Ten Years of Great American Writing, and the launching of Novello Festival Press, an imprint of PLCMC that focuses on discovering and publishing local and regional authors.
The Library uses technology to reach people too. Three hundred computers provide Internet links to information on topics ranging from business to health to history, with links leading to interactive - and often multi-lingual - sources of learning and fun. The Library's award winning Family of Web sites includes information and interactive content for children and adults.
Named as National Library of the Year in 1995 and Library of the Future in 1996, the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County continues to search for new and better ways to involve itself in the community, to make The Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County the very best it can be.
To learn more about the first 100 years of PLCMC, visit The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Story.
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