Northside Library

Northside LibraryHours:
Monday - Thursday: 10 - 9pm*
Friday - Saturday: 10am - 5pm*
Sunday: closed
MakerSpace Hours
*Please Note: Drive-up window closes 30 min. before the building closes.

Phone: 434. 973.7893
Fax: 434.973.5876
Email Us

Jump to: Programs and Events | Volunteer

 Northside Library

Art @ Northside

On the Lobby Display Wall: Art by Beth Rapp

Northside Art.
Northside Art.

In the Quiet Room: Art by Ashley Bell

Northside Art.
Northside Art.

TECH TUTORIALS

Tuesdays & Thursdays, 2 or 3pm One-on-one tutorials offered twice a week to answer your computer-use questions and to learn how to use library resources to download eBooks, audiobooks, and magazines to your mobile devices. Call the Information Desk at 434.973.7893 ext. 4 to sign up for a 30 - 60 minute tutorial. more info

Community Civil Rights Pilgrimage Traveling Exhibit

June 3-June 29

In partnership with Albemarle County, the Jefferson School African-American Heritage Center, and organizers of the Charlottesville Community Civil Rights pilgrimage, JMRL has created a traveling exhibition memorializing the July 12, 1898, lynching of Mr. John Henry James on property formerly known as Wood's Crossing in Albemarle County. The exhibition features soil from the lynching site, images from the Pilgrimage, media, historical documents, and more. Please see Etched in Memory: Civil Rights Pilgrimage on June 5 at 3pm.

Photograph of jar with soil from lynching site of John Henry James

Programs at Northside

History of Northside Library

Northside Library
Original Northside Library
(circa 1991)

Albemarle County's first branch library to serve residents living north of Charlottesville opened in a rented 15,500-square-foot space at Albemarle Square Shopping Center in 1991. The building once housed a Drug Fair discount pharmacy. As a library, the building was an immediate success, becoming Jefferson-Madison Regional Library's busiest branch. By 1998 it was clear the library required more space, so the Library Board of Trustees made a larger Northside Library one of its top goals.

Phillips Building
Phillips Building Supply

Realizing the need for a larger library, and after pursuing several options, in 2012 Albemarle County entered into a contingent contract to purchase property owned by Martha Jefferson Hospital at 705 West Rio Road, formerly known as the Phillips Supply Building. In 2013 the contract was finalized, several community planning meetings were held, and HBM Architects was hired to design the new library. One of the reasons for the selection of HBM Architects was the firm's experience with re-purposing buildings to provide public library services.

Northside Library
Northside Library

Renovation of the Phillips Supply Building began in March 2014 and was completed in February 2015. The new library opened March 16, 2015. Highlights of the new building include a maker space with a 3-D printer, a drive-up service window, dozens of Internet computers, and multiple public meeting rooms.

The library is open 56 hours a week and offers a collection of about 100,000 items.