Columbia Public Library

The Columbia Public Library is the public library of Columbia, Missouri, and was established as a tax-funded public library in the town in 1922. It is the headquarters of the Boone Regional Library">Boone County, Missouri">Boone Regional Library system, which serves the city of Columbia,, and the surrounding adjacent Howard and Callaway Counties / areas.
The previous library building was demolished and reconstructed at its current location on Garth and Broadway in 2002. The Columbia Library District merged with the Boone County Library District in 2017. In 2023, Columbia Public Library had 367,482 visits and a circulation of 1,397,283.
Prior to receiving tax support, the town public library ran on donations and moved across numerous downtown locations over the decades of the 20th century. Soon after the Tuesday Club organized in town in 1899 as a women's literary and culture society, they helped to establish, purchase, stock, and run a free public library in Columbia.
The community narrowly voted down a library town / county tax levy in 1917, but five years later in 1922, the library tax levy finally won 75% of the vote. 1922 was notably the first chance that Columbia and Missouri's women had the right to vote on the issue, with the passage and ratification two years earlier in 1920, of the Nineteenth Amendment to [the United States Constitution|19th Amendment] to the Constitution of the United States of 1787, approving women's suffrage / voting.

Daniel Boone Regional Library

The Daniel Boone Regional Library system was established in 1959 as a joining of the earlier established Boone, Howard, and Callaway counties public libraries, together with the county seat town of Boone County of the Columbia Public Library In 2023, DBRL had a cumulative circulation of 2,847,389, including ebooks, digital audiobooks, and digital magazines.
The Daniel Boone Regional Library system has the following four branches:

Columbia Public Library – 100 West Broadway and Garth Street,

Columbia, Missouri 65203

Callaway County Public Library – 710 Court Street,

Fulton, Missouri 65251

Holts Summit Public Library – 188 West Simon Boulevard,

Holts Summit, Missouri 65043

Southern Boone County Public Library- 109 North Main Street,

Ashland, Missouri 65010
The Daniel Boone Regional Library system also has three traveling / rotating bookmobiles. The largest bookmobile regularly stops in
Auxvasse,
Hallsville,
Harrisburg,
Rocheport,
and Sturgeon.

Overdue fines

CPL experimented with eliminating overdue fines starting July, 1961 for a six-month trial period. The Board of Trustees voted to continue the practice permanently, and the positive results prompted the Board to extend the practice to the Fulton Public Library in 1962. It was common for public libraries around the United States to forgive fines for a brief amnesty period, but the practice of discontinuing late fees did not catch on more widely until the 2010s.

Daniel Boone Regional Library Workers United

In May 2022, DBRL employees voted 101 – 55 to form Daniel Boone Regional Library Workers United, AFSCME Local 3311, AFSCME Council 61. This is the first active library workers' union in Missouri. DBRL ratified their first contract in December 2023.