Popular Library - (336) 703-3050

FIRST FLOOR - Fiction! The Popular Library features comprehensive fiction and biography collections, and an extensive selection of magazines and newspapers.

Bestsellers / Popular Books

You'll find multiple copies of those bestsellers you can't wait to get your hands on in our Popular Library collection near the Fifth Street entrance. These books check out for 21 days only, and cannot be renewed, requested electronically, or transferred to another branch. If you call ahead and the book you want is on the shelf, we will hold it for you for up to 24 hours.

Special Collections

We maintain special collections of African-American Literature, Hispanic, Paperback Genres, and Large Print materials.

Foreign Language Materials

We have small collections of popular fiction and non-fiction books in Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese and Russian.

Computer Center

The Popular Library has a computer center with 40 PCs available for public use. All 40 workstations are for public access to the Internet and can be used for email, research, word processing, business applications, and recreational purposes. The public computer workstations are connected to quality black & white laser printers. The Library provides five pages free per day. There is a 15-cent charge for each additional page. In addition, two 15-minute Express Stations are provided. A Download Station allows Library customers to check out, download, and transfer media files from the North Carolina Digital Library (powered by OverDrive).

Reader's Advisory

Wondering what to read next? Librarians are happy to make suggestions. Tell us what types of books you like, name some authors you're fond of, and we'll do our best to match your taste with something in our collection.

NextReads

Sign up for NextReads e-newsletters put together by our Library staff. Find out what’s new! The newsletters also feature monthly topics about Library materials you can check out.

Periodicals

The Popular Library department receives several hundred current newspapers, magazines and journals. The most recent issue is displayed until the next issue arrives. At that point the older issues are kept at the service desk until they are permanently bound or recycled.

Our staff will gladly assist in locating specific articles using printed or online indexes. Articles may be photocopied from printed sources or in many cases downloaded or printed from computer sources.

A very useful resource for journal, magazine and newspaper articles is NC LIVE. This database indexes thousands of titles and in many cases provides the full text of the articles. Access is available at all branches or from home. Your Library Card number and a password from the library is required for remote access from your home or office.