In 1915, the Guilford County Commissioners appropriated funding for free services to county residents living outside the Greensboro city limits. In addition to opening library use to rural residents and offering telephone and mail service, the library placed stations in various places, including post offices, each with a bookshelf holding 50 books. The postmasters often served as librarians. Greensboro was the first public library south of Maryland to take books to rural residents. This is the book deposit station at the post office in Jamestown.

This Carnegie building, no longer in existence, housed the library from 1906 to 1939. The library was segregated, and a Carnegie building for the African-American population opened in 1924. Greensboro had the second bookmobile in the state (Durham had the first in 1923). In 1926, Greensboro’s library obtained a Dodge truck, with a charging desk formed by letting down the back of the truck. The library won fame when the Saturday Evening Post ran an article about the use of the local dog tax to fund bookmobile service.

Along with the two in Greensboro, public libraries in Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Rutherford College, Hendersonville, Andrews, Murphy, Durham, and Hickory were built with Carnegie funds. In addition to this building, the Carnegie libraries in Andrews, Charlotte, and Rutherford College have been torn down. The surviving buildings are no longer used as libraries.

Reading room in Charlotte's Carnegie Library.

The Wilmington Public Library opened in 1906 on the second floor of City Hall/Thalian Hall. The building, constructed in 1858, had formerly housed the Wilmington Library Association (1858-1893). Wilmington’s earliest library dates back to 1755. This photo, courtesy of the New Hanover Public Library, was taken about 1910.

Last month, when the state House of Representatives unanimously passed House Resolution 216 to honor the Robeson County town of Proctorville on its one hundredth anniversary, one of the "Whereases" noted that the town had once held the distinction of being the smallest town in the United States with its own public library. That public library was, and continues to be, pretty small itself.

The W.R. Surles Memorial Library was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. W.R. Surles had been a teacher, principal, and later Robeson County superintendent of public instruction. Records from the N.C. State Historica Preservation Office explain the connection between Surles and the library building.

In the 1930s, Mr. Surles owned and operated a grocery and drygoods store. Admiring his grandfather’s business, his fifteen-year-old grandson Harry asked for a store of his own, and in 1935 Mr. Sureles hired Mr. Remus Davis of Proctorville to build Harry a small frame, store building. Harry sold crackers, candy and nick-nacks to local children. He soon became tired of the confinement of running the store and not having time to play with his friends, so the little store closed. Mr. Surles moved the supplies to his drygoods store and gave the store to the town of Proctorville for a library. Books were donated by Mr. Surles and the women of the community. Mrs. Evelyn Clyburn became the first librarian, and the one-room library was open two afternoons each week.

In 1939, the R. C. Lawrence Book Club in Proctorville was organized with twelve charter members. ... The Book Club’s primary mission was to promote cultural awareness and to encourage residents both young and old to read. As outlined in the club’s by-laws, they also maintained and provided financial support to the small library building.

A photo of the tiny library by Mrs. Marie McRae Ecklar of Robeson County includes the following description:

On account of the small size of the structure, only one person (or two if small children) could use the library at a time. Children would wait in line for their turn in the library.

In 1944, Surles donated land to build a larger, more modern library. Construction began in December 1950 and was completed the following May. The library was dedicated September 30, 1951, with many dignitaries, including Governor W. Kerr Scott in attendance.

In 1979, N&O writer Dennis Rogers visited Proctorville and its library.

Proctorville’s W.R. Surles Memorial Library is indeed a small one. The name covers the entire front of the building.

Jammed with four walls, four windows, a door, a storage room, two tables and a desk, perhaps a bridge foursome can fit inside. But that’s all right. If residents need a book at a time other than when the library is open (officially just one afternoon a week), part-time librarian Mrs. Hubert Rhodes is perfectly happy to run down and open up. -- The N&O 2/6/1979

Proctorville’s population, according to the 2010 census, has dwindled to 117, but the W.R. Surles Memorial Library is still in service and is open on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.

As part of the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression, the Book Repair projects gave employment to needy economic heads of families while saving public schools and public libraries thousands of dollars through the "reconditioning of books which have become too dilapidated for use." This photo shows African-American women mending books in Guilford County as part of the WPA book mending project. It's interesting to note the name on the box they're using next to the worktable.

This photo is part of the Public Library History Files at the State Library of North Carolina.

To help celebrate National Library Week, each day we’ll run a historical photo of libraries and library services in North Carolina’s past.

The photo below shows Alamance County women working on the book mending project there. This site looks a little more rural, but both sets of workers enjoy pretty flowers on the tables.

It’s all about libraries this week, so to help celebrate National Library Week we’re takin a look back each day at a library scene from North Carolina’s past.

Today, from the Public Library History Files at the State Library of North Carolina, here's a look at the children's room at Raleigh's Olivia Raney Library.

Below, is an image from the library's opening day in 1923.

The original downtown Olivia Raney Library closed in 1985.

If you like parties, you won't want to miss the shindig at the Wendell Public Library.

If you went to Duke a half-century ago and wax nostalgic for long evenings breaking bread with your classmates at the campus dining hall, the university's library magazine has just the thing for you.

Click here for an exhaustive history of dining at Duke and the impact of Theodore Minah, who took over as dining chief in 1946.

As the magazine reports, he arrived at Duke at a time when students were irritated by wartime food rationing, poor dining policies and an unprepared cooking staff.

I love this snippet from a suggestion box way back in 1945:

"We know things are tough all over, but can't we have any silverware? Restaurants seem to have steaks or good cuts of meat now. How about the Union? Must we eat chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken (poorly prepared too)? Will we ever have pitchers of cream on the table at breakfast likelast year? Why continually run out of food?"

Duke University's Vesic Library, a small facility housing engineering, math and physics collections, has closed.

It was housed in the Teer engineering building. The collections have been moved to Perkins, the main campus library.