Charlotte Mecklenburg Library: 1989-2015

Elsewhere on this website, visitors may read "A Century of Service," the exhibit based on Patricia Ryckman's history of public library service in Charlotte, North Carolina.  It ended with a description of the  new Main Library, which opened in 1989, just before the Charlotte Mecklenburg  Library marked the end of a full century of  library service in Charlotte in 1991. The story of the library in the quarter century that has followed that anniversary includes accolades and recognition, controversy and criticism,  innovation and re-examination, expansion and contraction. 

Photo shows the crowd at Opening Day of the new Main Library, June 19, 1989.

Part One: Library of the Future, 1989-1999

Part Two: Fighting to Stay Relevant, 1999-2009

Part Three: The New Normal, 2009-2015