1945
Boulder’s population was 12,958 in 1940. It had risen to 18,000 by 1945.

The library commission asked the county to pay a 50 cents per capita fee for use of the library by county residents.  The county attorney ruled that this fee would be unconstitutional and suggested the the library directly charge county patrons 50 cents/person instead. The library commission decided against this fee, and looked towards a county ballot measure creating a library fund to benefit the Boulder and Longmont libraries.

1946
The Boulder and Longmont libraries asked for $500 each from the county to help defray costs incurred through county users.  The request was approved for the following year’s budget.

1948
The library asked the county commissioners for more than $500 “because of a large number of new families who hav moved to the environs of Boulder.”  All of the surrounding libraries asked for budget increases that year to account for increased use.

1952
The library calculated that it was spending about $2.50 per person on county users. The county provided $800 to defer county user costs.

1959
In January, the library started charging non-residents for library cards, collecting $893 over the course of the year.  The city manager and library director met with the county to ask for an increase above  the $800 currently being provided, pointing out that the percentage of county users had increased from 3.9% in 1952 to 23.6% in1958. The county commissioners declined the request. 

1960
The County provided BPL with an $800 stipend to serve County residents.

County residents obtained a grant from the Colorado State Library for BPL to operate a bookmobile for County residents. 

1961
The Boulder library dropped out of the bookmobile project to focus on construction of the new library.  All County funds for library services went to the bookmobile. At the end of the year, county residents asked the county to take over the bookmobile, which they declined to do. Instead the County increased the stipend to BPL to serve County residents.

1962
Boulder County paid BPL $10,000 to serve County residents.

1963
Boulder County paid BPL $19,000 to serve County residents.

1964
Boulder County paid BPL $25,000 to serve County residents.

1965-72
From 1965-1972, Boulder County continued to pay BPL (and other county municipal libraries) a stipend to serve County residents, based on a formula of 50 cents times the city’s population. No written agreement was in effect.

1972-75
From 1972-1975, funding from the County to serve county residents was changed to a formula based on library annual operating costs.

1975
The County Commissioners allocated $100,000 to the five Boulder County libraries, substantially less than requested. The libraries began exploring ways to cut back on services for county residents.

1976
Based on applications for library cards, 25-30% of new BPL cardholders were from portions of the unincorporated County not served by a library in 1976.   Library directors from Boulder, Longmont, Louisville, Lafayette, Ward and Broomfield told the County Commissioners  that the County had failed to live up to its agreement to provide funding for library use by County residents. Based on the 1972 formula, BPL argued that it should have received $112,00 from the County, but only $56,000 was provided. 

1979
The city and county entered into an agreement to trade library services for county residents in exchange for health services for city residents (provided through the Boulder County Health Department). This agreement lapsed 10 years later and was not renewed.

1980
Using grant funds, the Boulder public library coordinated development of an inter-library loan system (today’s Flatirons Library Consortium) with neighboring libraries.  (Boulder library served as project manger, with the Boulder Library Foundation serving as fiscal agent for grant funding. Grant funding obtained for the interlibrary loan system in 1980  (Irving Communications) was $70,000. Development of the interlibrary loan system continued through1990, funded by three grants totaling $627,000.

1984
A metro-wide library district was proposed, including Boulder and four other (unidentified) metro counties. The Boulder County Commissioners declined to join.

!989
The agreement between city and county to exchange library and health services expired and was not renewed.