The story of the Champaign County Library begins in 1890 in a room owned by a local physician. The library consisted of 450 books and periodicals, and was operated by volunteers. Over the years, the library has been housed in the city building (1891), a former Presbyterian Church (1896), the Morhlite building on Market Street (1932), and a converted grocery store (1996).
The library was located in the Morhlite building for 64 years. Eventually the library outgrew the quaint old building, and after much thought, the decision was made to move the library to a new location. The library was awarded a $500,000 federal grant through the State Library of Ohio to assist in the relocation of the library. With money saved over the years by the Board of Trustees and donations from local businesses and individuals, the library opened at the new location in November 1996.
The Champaign County Library currently consists of over 80,000 volumes of books, magazines, DVDs, CD-ROMs, eBooks, etc. The library provides information services, interlibrary loans, automated circulation system and card catalog, adult and child programming, and the most recent addition - a branch library.
The first North Lewisburg Branch Library opened in June of 1997. Volunteers raised over $40,000 as start-up costs for the branch library with the help of local businesses and fundraisers.
In the fall of 2003, the North Lewisburg Branch Library moved to a new location - 161 Winder Street. The building is the old Friend's Church that that was donated to the City of North Lewisburg.