History

Talk of a library began at the turn of the century. The Carlisle Women's Club took the first action to organize a library in 1943. A guest speaker who appeared before a meeting of the Carlisle Rotary Club in the winter of 1946 helped to spark the formation of a committee to plan the new library. This committee which included: Mrs. Henry Carter, Mrs. James Parker, Dr. C.T. Cowan, Dr. M.P. McClure, Earl Van Bever, and Mrs. Tommy Johnson enlisted the help of the Carlisle City Council and the Nicholas County Fiscal Court. In April of 1947, the committee contracted with the Kentucky Department of Libraries the sum of $2000 partially paid by the Carlisle City Council and the Nicholas County Fiscal Court. The first Library Board Members included: Mrs. R.S. Barlow, Mrs. J.S. Wilson, Mrs. Ruth Hollar, Mrs. James Parker, and Mrs. Johnson.

Rotarians, board members and their families built and painted shelves to be placed in the office donated by Charles Cox in the courthouse. Girl Scouts were enlisted to collect books. Formal dedication was on September 20, 1947. At that time the library was opened 2 days a week and an average of 9 books per day were checked out with 271 borrowers during the first nine months. In 1958, the library was moved to the basement of the courthouse. On January 7, 1967 the library moved to the current location. Currently the library has over 4200 patrons. Almost 1000 added in the past two years. We have over 26,000 books on record.