The Mercantile Library is a membership library. It is a non-profit institution supported by members' annual subscriptions, gifts, and income from an endowment fund. The Library receives no tax support. The name refers not to the collection but to the Library's founders who were young merchants and clerks. Organized in 1835, it is the city's senior library and one of the oldest cultural institutions in the midwest.

For more information, visit the website for The Mercantile Library.