Lafayette County and Oxford Public Library marks more than 90 years of service

The Lafayette County & Oxford Public Library asked for more than $500,000 for its 2025 budget and was named the fifth busiest library in Mississippi, underscoring how heavily residents use a service paid for by both Lafayette County and the City of Oxford. The library is a joint venture of the Lafayette County Board of Supervisors and the Oxford Board of Aldermen, which makes it a shared public asset for taxpayers on both sides of the county line.

Its regular schedule reflects that demand. The library is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Sunday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. County updates also said the library was hosting one of its most active Summer Reading Programs yet, with free events scheduled through the end of July, showing that its role extends far beyond checkout counters and quiet study tables.

The building’s history reaches back to 1930, when the library was located in an upper room of City Hall. It moved to its first building on Madison Avenue in 1964, and that site became the first integrated building in Oxford. In March 1977, the library moved again, this time into a new 16,300-square-foot, two-story building at 401 Bramlett Blvd. A later 10,000-square-foot addition brought a large auditorium and two extra meeting rooms, space that has helped turn the library into a year-round gathering place.

That long arc helps explain why county records describe the Lafayette County & Oxford Public Library as a hub for community gatherings and events for more than 90 years. It sits alongside other county facilities in Lafayette County government’s network of public services, including the courthouse, chancery courthouse, business complex, detention center, district attorney’s office, road department, solid waste department, fire department central station and the multipurpose arena.

The budget figures show the scale of the operation over time. The library asked for a $399,000 budget in 2017, then requested more than $500,000 for its 2024 budget and again for 2025. That growth tracks with its standing as one of the state’s busiest libraries and with the steady use that has made the Oxford and Lafayette County institution part of the area’s basic civic infrastructure.

For residents tracing family history, the Lafayette County Historical and Genealogical Society, which lists 662-234-5751, adds another layer to that local knowledge network. The library remains the daily, shared space where that civic memory is stored, used and renewed.