East Regional Library

History:

The Knightdale Public Library opened its doors in 1971 as a joint undertaking of the Town of Knightdale and the Wake County Public Library System. Joyce Smith ran the facility with a small volunteer staff. The library's first location was the brick building on First Avenue directly across from Arden Farm Antiques.

During the first year the library's card-carrying members grew to more than 1,000, with a collection of about 3,000 books and 100 records for all ages and interests. Another service was the new "copy-making" machine, which was used to copy many legal documents but more popular for copying quilting and cross- stitch patterns. The community very enthusiastically supported the library and its own charter of The Friends of the Library. These groups held bake sales, craft bazaars and lotteries to raise funds to benefit their community library. Each Wednesday afternoon a group of "Library Ladies" would meet at 1:30 to do quilting needlework. Another group of ladies met on Tuesday evenings at 7:30 to crochet. Many of these projects were later sold to help raise a portion of the library's budget for the year.

In 1975 Anne Hildebrand became the Knightdale librarian. She was faced with new issues. The location on First Avenue was too small to accommodate the near-6,000-volume collection, nor could the library accept additional titles the Wake County Library System made available to branches on a rotating basis. In addition, the library was unable to have special programs for children and adults due to the space constraints. But relief was on its way in the form of a new Town Hall that was willing to devote half its space to the Library. The new facility was capable of housing 11,000 books, with a central meeting room where special programs could be held. The library moved into the Town Hall building in March 1978.

After Anne Hildebrand retired in 1984, the library continued to thrive under the management of Peggy Patterson. Circulation grew and attendance at children's storytimes often had the branch bursting at its seams.

In 1989 when Angie Stephens became the Knightdale Branch Manager, the "new" Town Hall location was no longer adequate. Through renovations and fiberglass display cases, Mrs. Stephens was able to fit in a collection of 24,000 volumes. The hours of operation were also increased to Mondays and Wednesdays, 2-8 p.m.; Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10-6 p.m.; Fridays, 2-6 p.m.; and Saturdays, 10-2 p.m. However, the increased hours and larger collection scarcely met the demands of the growing Knightdale community. But relief was on the way. The town was building a new Town Hall to be located at Steeple Square Court. The Town Hall's move would give the Library two new storage rooms to house non-seasonal titles and create more shelf space.

A Wake County-sponsored referendum called for the construction of a Regional Library to be built in Knightdale. The Town of Knightdale donated land for this project adjacent to the new Town Hall at Steeple Square. The project was initiated in 1998, and East Regional Library celebrated its grand opening on December 6, 1999.

The beautiful 21,000-square-foot facility had an opening-day collection of almost 100,000 volumes and a staff of 17 full-time employees. It boasts a small conference room for community use as well as a quiet study room and children's programming room. The library is currently open 71 hours a week and has 20 computers for patrons to use in addition to the computerized book catalog.