Brevard County Libraries

As is true of many of the libraries in the United States, most of the libraries in Brevard County were originally initiated by a club or an interested group of citizens banding together to organize and start a library program in their area or city. The first five public libraries in the county Cocoa, Cocoa Beach, Eau Gallie, Melbourne, and North Brevard in Titusville- were all started in this fashion. In 1959, the Brevard County Board of County Commissioners and the cities started to implement Florida Statute 150, which gave county funding support to the five municipal libraries. In return the five libraries agreed to serve all county residents. The formula used for this support was a minimum of one-third from the cities and a maximum of two-thirds from the County to pay all operating expenses, and the city was required to furnish the building to house the library collection. This plan worked successfully for a number of years. During the sixties Brevard's population boomed as a result of the Aerospace Program and demands for library services began to come from many of the fast growing areas of the county. Merritt Island and Satellite Beach were added to the county's libraries an