 In 1887, a group of women formed the Ladies Library Association and their goal was to establish a library that would become the “little sister” to the Chautauqua center, university, and school .The Ladies Library Association chose a plot of land adjacent to the Chautauqua center and signed a lease for ninety-nine years .By the end of 1887, five years after the initial plan of the village, there was a community library.