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University City Regional Library
The University City Regional Library was built to serve the northeastern part of Mecklenburg County. Voters approved bonds for its construction in November of 1989, but the project had deeper roots than that. Before the bond referendum, University City residents had already raised $15,000 in order to buy books for the library they were wishing for. Whitacre, 1989"Diane Whitacre, "Books plus bonds may equal library," Charlotte Observer, November 5, 1989, Mecklenburg Neighbors Section, p.10 Negotiations for a site concluded one year later when the library got the terms it needed for the land: a 30-year, one-dollar-per-year lease from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority. (Whitacre, 1990)Diane Whitacre, "Story of library for UNCC area turns a page,"Charlotte Observer, December 5, 1990, Mecklenburg Neighbors Section, p22) Construction of the building and securing the funding for staff and books took another two years to complete.
Finally, six years after the need for a library in this area was first discussed by the Library Board of Trustees Board of Trustees, 1987)Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, Minutes of the Board of Trustees, February 24, 1987, the facility opened on February 14, 1993. The planning and building of it took longer than expected, with the result that the facility needed to grow again soon after it opened. It had been built to accommodate expansion, the time for which, Director Cannon estimated, would come in a decade. (Whitacre, 1993)Diane Whitacre, "Ah! Room for reading and research," Charlotte Observer, February 18, 1993, Cabarrus Neighbors Section, p.12. In 1999, only six years after that prediction, the library closed for five months and reopened at 25,000 sq. ft. - 60% larger.
Works Cited:
- Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, Minutes of the Board of Trustees, February 24, 1987
- Whitacre, Diane. “Books plus bonds may equal library.” Charlotte Observer, November 5, 1989, Mecklenburg Neighbors Section, p.10.
- Whitacre, Diane. “Story of library for UNCC area turns a page.” Charlotte Observer, December 5, 1990, Mecklenburg Neighbors Section, p.22.
- Whitacre, Diane. “Ah! Room for reading and research.” Charlotte Observer, February 18, 1993, Cabarrus Neighbors Section, p.12.