Library History :

In 1946, a committee of the Clovis American Association of University Women, chaired by Fanny Bliss, began working toward a library. By 1949, a small lending library was opened at the Merritt Building, operating for four hours - one day a week. In that first library, Eileen B. Griffin had books shelved in orange crates and apple boxes. A volunteer staff from the AAUW kept them in order.

In February of 1950, the Curry County Commission offered to place the library on the northwest corner of the county courthouse complex. Due to a great deal of funding problems though, the library did not actually open until July of 1953. Money problems continued, when the building opened it did so without electric light fixtures. By 1956, about 30,000 books were being circulated annually.