Aberdeen Branch History

A library in Aberdeen has existed since the early 20th century, becoming part of county-wide library services in 1946. The library was housed in a variety of locations, from the second floor of a store at West Bel Air Avenue and North Parke Street, to the Aberdeen Recreation Center, to a building on North Parke Street built for it in 1958. None of these would accommodate the library for long, however, and in 1972 plans for a new branch began. The present location opened in November 1975.

The current building was designed by Gerald Baxter and essentially the same floor plan was used for Joppa Branch in 1980. In the late nineties, the building was updated with new carpeting, a new color-scheme, a rearranged floor plan and improvements made to the electrical and computer conduits in the concrete-slab floor. Additional upgrades to the HVAC, lighting and staff areas were also completed. In 2014, a refresh of public and staff areas included new carpeting, a dedicated check-in processing room, and removal of unused reference shelving and the installation of single customer service desk which opened up the space. Between 2019 and 2020, several updates were done including a new roof and windows, removing bulkheads, rearranging shelving and computer layouts, an enclosed book drop room and changing in-floor electrical and computer conduits. These changes culminated with a complete redesign of the children’s area to create more interactive and flexible spaces and build Harford County’s first outdoor story garden.

Over the years volunteers and generous donations have assisted in supplementing branch facilities and services. Volunteers have contributed countless hours of computer assistance, program preparation and aid in maintaining the branch collections. The Ripken Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation were essential in providing early computer services. The Friends of Aberdeen Library, The Library Foundation and private donations support building enhancements and library programs such as Summer Reading and Winter Reading.

Branch Square Footage: 14,200