About the Library, Continued

1983: The Etowah Grange leased its building on Brickyard Road to the County to house the Etowah Branch Library.

1985: The Library computerized its catalog and patron records. In fact, the library was the first library system in North Carolina to install the DYNIX integrated library system.

1989: In March the Library Building Committee presented its plans for a two story 1.7 million addition to the Main Library. Much of the funding came from two bequests; a $940,450 bequest by Russell E. Caywood in 1988 and $165,000 bequest made in 1987 by Donald Stuart Aiken.

1989: The Edneyville Branch Library opened in a mobile classroom.

1989: On September 13th the Trustees and the Friends of the Library hosted a reception to celebrate the library's 75th anniversary and to officially welcome the new library director Bill Snyder who was hired in July.

1990: On July 25th at 10 am groundbreaking took place for the Main Library addition.

1990: The Green River Branch Library opened on Green River Rd., Tuxedo.

1991: In January the Main Library temporarily relocated to the old Gray Hosiery Mill, on the corner of Grove St. and 4th Avenue East. The Library operated from this location for a year while the main building was renovated.

1992: The Main Library moved its operations back to the newly renovated Washington Street location in January. There was a formal dedication and open house for the newly expanded facility on May 24th.

1993: The Etowah Branch Library was renovated and expanded.

1999: In January the Edneyville Branch Library opened in its new building located near the fire station on HWY 64 East.

2004: In January the Library completed its migration to DYNIX's Horizon Information Management System, a windows based ILS.

2005: The Mills River Branch, the library system's first storefront location, opened in April.

2005: In November the Library joined the North Carolina Digital Library and began circulating downloadable titles. In that first month 6 items were downloaded. (Fast forward to November 2013 when, 3,958 titles were downloaded in that month alone)

2006: In March wireless Internet access was provided at the Main Library.

2008: April 30th the formal dedication of the new Etowah Branch Library took place. The 8,100 square foot building was designed by Craig, Gaulden, and Davis of Greenville, S.C. The budget for the library was 2.1 million, including contributions from the Richard and Betty Scott estate in the Community Foundation.

2008: In August the Main Library installed 2 Apex XpressCheck self-checkout machines from Integrated Technology Group. Patrons began to check out items for themselves. The stations are equipped with unlocking devices to release the DVDs and CDs from security cases.

2011: February, the Mills River Branch relocated to the new Town Hall location.

2014: The Library celebrated its Centennial with programs throughout the year and a community party on September 21st. On October 1st, Director William Snyder retired after 25 years of service to Henderson County.

2015: On January 1st, Trina Rushing became the new Library Director.