Circulation 2.7 million Director Marilyn Wood Budget 7.346 million USD | Population served 138,000 Staff 153 Phone +1 812-349-3050 Established 1820 | |
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Location 303 E Kirkwood AveBloomington, Indiana 47408 Hours Open today · 9AM–9PMThursday9AM–9PMFriday10AM–6PMSaturday10AM–6PMSunday12–6PMMonday9AM–9PMTuesday9AM–9PMWednesday9AM–9PM | ||
Monroe County Public Library (MCPL) serves the 138,000 citizens of Monroe County, Indiana, through the Main Library in downtown Bloomington, the Ellettsville Branch, and the Bookmobile. The library’s special services include the Learn and Play Space, a preschool discovery center; VITAL, an adult literacy program; CATS, a five-channel community access television network; the Indiana Room, a local history and genealogy collection and grants center (part of the Foundation Center’s Cooperating Collections National Network); and service to inmates at the Monroe County Correctional Center.
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History
The first library in Monroe County was established in 1820 in the courthouse. A Carnegie Library was dedicated in 1918. In 1965, the Bloomington Public Library merged with the Monroe County Public Library system. Library service continued in the Carnegie building until 1970 when the current building was completed. Expanded to a full city block in 1997 and renovated in 2010, the Main Library is a 135,000-square-foot limestone building located in downtown Bloomington near Indiana University. Library services started in Ellettsville in 1968 when a storefront branch opened. The current building was dedicated in 1990 and expanded and renovated in 2009. Bookmobile service to rural Monroe County began in 1929 with the purchase of a Model A Ford “booktruck.” This service continues with a state-of-the-art bookmobile purchased in 2011.
In 2011 the library experienced its fifteenth year of increases in circulation and library visits. That same year, circulation topped 2.7 million. The library uses the Polaris Integrated Library System and has implemented an RFID-based circulation, materials handling and inventory control system.