Books, internet access, library services and programs;
and it's all on the road visiting communities around the county.
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Contact

 
Karli Gallagher
Outreach Manager
843-805-6909
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Requests

 
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  • Mobile Library Stops

    CCPL's Mobile Library operates on the mission of providing equitable access to library programming, materials, technology and services to patrons outside the walls of CCPL facilities.

    Calendar

  • Lobby Stops and Senior Communities

    Outreach staff visits local senior living communities twice a month to drop off library materials, provide programming, and offer Reader’s Advisory and technology help to residents. Lobby Stops are for residents of these locations only.

    PDFMap
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Features

  • 8 Computers and desk spaces
  • Wheelchair accessible
  • Space for programming
  • Collection of more than 1,700 items
  • Best-selling adult fiction and non-fiction
  • High-demand large print
  • Juvenile picture books and chapter books
  • Young adult fiction and non-fiction
  • Popular DVDs and audiobooks
  • Books for all ages in Spanish
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History

The idea of packing books into a vehicle for distribution predates the automobile, but mobile library collections became a reality in Charleston County during the golden age of the motor car. Since the first gasoline-powered bookmobiles hit the road here in 1931, generations of tireless drivers have carried many tons of books to remote corners of the county to foster a love of learning outside of traditional libraries. As CCPL’s thirteenth bookmobile, or “mobile library” prepares to continue this ninety-year-old tradition, let’s review a brief history of the county’s books (and more) on wheels.

The first branch of the Charleston Free Library, as it was initially known, opened on January 1st, 1931, within a portion of the Charleston Museum on Rutledge Avenue. Like many other public libraries of that era, its creation stemmed from a collaboration of public and private funds. Charleston County government provided the seed money, but most of the early capital came from the Rosenwald Fund and the Carnegie Corporation. Those donated funds, predicated on generous philanthropic principles, required the new library to provide free service to all residents of Charleston County. Because most of the local population lived in rural areas at that time, the library’s first challenge was to extend service across eighty miles of Lowcountry terrain that includes numerous sea islands.

Learn more in episode 196 of the Charleston Time Machine podcast.

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