Scottsbluff was incorporated in 1900, and by 1910 there was a community library of donated books in the Reading Room in the annex of the Presbyterian Church at the corner of First Avenue and Sixteenth Street. The library was open to the public for reading and checking out books two afternoons and one evening per week. The library committee of the church administered the library and kept it open.

Around 1916 the committee contacted the Carnegie corporation inquiring about endowment funds for a Carnegie Library. Local government support for a library was required before grants would be made, so the committee approached the City Council in February of 1917. Council agreed to consult with the Carnegie Institute and pledged $1500. annually for the support of the library. In April of that year the Council appointed the first Library Board.

The Board accepted the Carnegie grant of $12,500. in October of 1917. An extension of time was requested the next February because a site had not been found. The World War further delayed the process, and the library, needing more space, was moved to a rented building just off Broadway in 1918. The library was open five days per week and was able to purchase new books, and magazine and newspaper subscriptions with its funds.

Because of a considerable increase in the City’s population in the 1920 census, the Carnegie Corporation increased the grant to $15,000. A plan was finally approved by the corporation, and a referendum vote determined the location of the new building at First Avenue and Eighteenth Street. The price of the lot was $3,000.

The new Carnegie Library opened April 21, 1922. This building is now part of the West Nebraska Arts Center. If you look carefully, it is the western one-third of the present building, with the original entrance on First Avenue.

By 1925 the library was already too small. The children’s room was moved to the basement, necessitating adding an assistant librarian to the staff. In November of 1925 the librarian reported that eighty children had attended a recent story hour.

The Library Board began negotiations for an addition to the building in 1935. With $5,649. from the Works Progress Administration and $10,000. from a bond election, an addition was built on the east side of the Carnegie structure, opening in 1936.

By the 1950’s, space was again a problem. In 1957, the auditorium area became the children’s room, a short-term solution in an increasingly inadequate facility.

In 1962 the Library Board began discussing the need for a new building. The suggested site was the north end of Central Park.

With the approval of a $135,000. bond issue and matching Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA) funds, construction of a new library began in November of 1965. A year later, November 11, 1966, the present library building was dedicated.

[Much of the preceding historical information is taken from "Throughout the Years: A History of Community Library Service, Scottsbluff, Nebraska, 1910-1985" by Shirley J. Flack, Director of the Library 1969-2000.]