Our mission has changed little over the past century:
On January 13, 1898, the secretary of state issued a charter to C. A. Woods, H.C. Graham, W. Murchison, E.H. Byars, H.W. McLucas, S.W. Norwood, W.J. Montgomery, and J.W. Johnson, petitioners, to establish a corporation to be known as the “Marion Public Library,” the purpose of which was to be the “improvement of the moral, social, and intellectual condition of the people of Marion County.”