Columbia Public Library

Columbia Public Library
North side of Columbia Public Library
Columbia Public Library, founded 1922, looking at north side of new 2002 building, at 100 West Broadway and Garth Street, Columbia, (Boone County), Missouri, part of four branches of Daniel Boone Regional Library system in Mid-Missouri
TypePublic library system
Established1922 (CPL), 1954/1959 (DBRL)
Service area
Columbia, Missouri and surrounding towns
Access and use
Circulation2,947,435 check-outs across DBRL system (2025)
Population served
227,893 people in library district, 94,603 cardholders
Other information
Budget$16,912,991 (2025)
DirectorRobin Westphal (Nov. 2024 -)
Public transit access
Bus transport Go COMO
Websitewww.dbrl.org

The Columbia Public Library (CPL) 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 Daniel Boone Regional Library system (DBRL), which serves the city of Columbia, (the county seat of surrounding Boone County), and the surrounding adjacent Howard and Callaway Counties / areas.

Columbia Public Library interior, of recently built structure of 2002, at Garth and Broadway, part of the Daniel Boone Regional Library system

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, which went into effect on January 1, 2018, to create the Columbia and Boone County Library District. In 2025, Columbia Public Library had a circulation of 1,312,631 check-outs from its branch.

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 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 (DBRL) 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. The Daniel Boone Regional Library serves two districts: the Columbia and Boone County Library District (CBCLD) and the Callaway County Library District (CCLD). The library system is governed by the DBRL Board of Trustees, a group of 14 volunteers who are appointed by a mayor or county commissioner - nine members are from CBCLD and serve 3-year terms, and five are from CCLD and serve 4-year terms.

In 2025, DBRL had a cumulative circulation of 2,947,435, including ebooks, digital audiobooks, and digital magazines, and its libraries were visited a total of 489,863 times. The library system's collection contains 528,163 total items, including books, ebooks, DVDs and CDs, physical and downloadable audiobooks, and devices and kits.

The Daniel Boone Regional Library system has the following four branches:

The Daniel Boone Regional Library system also has three traveling / rotating bookmobiles. The largest bookmobile regularly stops in Columbia, 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 (DBRLWU), AFSCME Local 3311, AFSCME Council 61. This is the first active library workers' union in Missouri. DBRL ratified their first contract in December 2023, which went into effect on January 1, 2024.

See also

The Urban Libraries Council's Fine Free Libraries Map.

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 "Daniel Boone Regional Library Annual Report 2025". 2026.
  2. ↑ "2024 Annual Report - Daniel Boone Regional Library" (PDF). Daniel Boone Regional Library. 2025.
  3. ↑ Jagtiani, Jayden (February 23, 2022). "Daniel Boone Regional Library celebrates 100 years in service". KOMU. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  4. ↑ "About Us – Daniel Boone Regional Library".
  5. ↑ The service area and locations of the Daniel Boone Regional Library (Map). June 3, 2021.
  6. ↑ "60 Years of Change at DBRL". Daniel Boone Regional Library. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  7. ↑ McKinney, Roger. "Columbia, Boone County library boards approve plan to merge". Columbia Daily Tribune. Retrieved October 18, 2026.
  8. ↑ "Director's Note: Districts Come Together". Daniel Boone Regional Library. Retrieved October 18, 2026.
  9. 1 2 3 "Daniel Boone Regional Library Annual Report 2025". Retrieved October 18, 2026.
  10. 1 2 "Columbia Public Library Centennial Timeline". Daniel Boone Regional Library. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  11. ↑ "Library Levy Fails; School Tax Carries". The Daily Missourian. Vol. 9, no. 182. Columbia, Missouri. April 4, 1917. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "Results of Yesterday's City Election". Columbia Evening Missourian. Vol. 14, no. 187. Columbia, Missouri. April 5, 1922. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com. For Library Tax Total 962 Against Library Tax Total 319 - 962 / 319 = 1,281. 962 / 1,281 = 75%.
  13. ↑ JUNG, ALISON (July 30, 2009). "Daniel Boone Regional Library celebrates 50th anniversary". Columbia Missourian. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  14. ↑ "Governance". Daniel Boone Regional Library. Retrieved October 18, 2026.
  15. ↑ "Board of Trustees". Daniel Boone Regional Library. Retrieved October 18, 2026.
  16. ↑ Daniel Boone Regional Library (August 16, 2024). "Background information for potential members of the Daniel Boone Regional Library Board of Trustees" (PDF).
  17. ↑ "Bookmobile Stops – Daniel Boone Regional Library". Daniel Boone Regional Library. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  18. ↑ "Your Public Library: Overdue Books Bring No Fine". Columbia Missourian. July 2, 1961. p. 4.
  19. ↑ "The Bookshelf". Fulton Daily Sun-Gazette. January 10, 1962. p. 4.
  20. ↑ "The End of Overdue Fines? – Public Libraries Online". Public Libraries Online – A Publication of the Public Library Association. November 5, 2015. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  21. ↑ Goldstein, Adam (May 23, 2022). "Daniel Boone Regional Library workers vote to unionize". Columbia Missourian. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
  22. ↑ "First Library Union in the State of Missouri – Library Worklife". Retrieved November 22, 2022.
  23. ↑ Kaminski, Mitchell (December 20, 2023). "DBRL Board approves agreement with union after initially asking for amendment on wages". ABC17NEWS. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  24. ↑ Daniel Boone Regional Library. (2025). 2024 annual report. https://dbrl.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Annual-Report-2024-web.pdf