In Cobourg the new term "public library" was first used in 1895 when the operation of the Mechanics Institute came under the Public Libraries Act. Under the auspices of the Department of Education, the public library emerged to serve a broader public. The library was funded largely by subscriptions from its members, with additional support from the Province and from the local municipal government.
Board officials, elected by the membership, managed the Reading Room on a voluntary basis until 1899, when the first librarian's salary was offered. In December of that year, a chimney-fire resulted in a loss valued at $585, the equivalent of an entire year's budget.
In 1902, the Board began to consider the possibility of obtaining a Carnegie grant for a new library building. The issue was still being discussed in 1911, but nothing ever came of it.
As the collection grew, handwritten lists of holdings became unmanageable. In 1907 the library purchased its first 6-drawer card catalogue, and all items were catalogued using the Dewey Decimal Classification system.
In 1918, water damage from a plumbing catastrophe in the Domestic Science room above the library resulted in book damage and rendered the cards of the catalogue "unfit for use."
By 1918, the library held 5,271 volumes, with an annual circulation of 16,923 books.
Clearly, the public library was growing. Over the next half century, an abiding theme of the library was to find more suitable housing. With the growth of the clientele, services were offered to all age groups. A highlight of the 1950's was the establishment of a separate room for the children's collection - the first facility equipped especially with children's needs in mind.
By the late 1950's, Cobourg was one of only two towns left in the province still operating as a subscription or "association" library, and its collection was not up to the provincial standard of three books per capita. The tax levy for library services was 20 cents per capita, far short of the recommended standard of $1. The library premises were also judged to be wanting in a strongly worded report from the provincial Director of Library Services.
The changes suggested by the report were taken to heart, and the library became a fully tax supported public library with a municipally appointed board in 1958. Judge H. R. Deyman was its first chairman. In May 1959 the Board hired its first fully qualified professional librarian, Mr. Graham Barnett.
