Click on any of the pictures below for Branch locations, hours and phone numbers. The library system consists of a Main Library in downtown Wilmington, NC, three suburban branch libraries, and a law library. The library system has a collection of nearly 340,000 items, and the reference staff answers more than 285,000 questions a year. Library services have a lengthy history in Wilmington beginning in 1735. The mission of the Library is to provide all citizens with the greatest return on taxpayer investment by: Opening doors to a world of information Transforming information on to knowledge Promoting reading and literacy Contributing to personal enrichment Facilitating public discourse Preserving the historical record of the Lower Cape Fear Providing exposure to a diversity of cultures Enhancing individual and collective economic growth The Library is a department of New Hanover County government administered by the Library Director with the advice of a Library Advisory Board appointed by the New Hanover Board of County Commissioners.