 In 1917, the two organizations merged and the Fresno County Board of Supervisors became the governing body for the County Library system, with 12 communities initially designated to have county branches.By the late 1950s, the first Carnegie library building had outgrown its original quarters and the time had come to replace it with a new Central Library.The present-day Central Library in downtown Fresno opened on April 13, 1959 and today serves as the Headquarters for the Fresno County Public Library and its 32 branch libraries, plus the Literacy Center, Senior Resource Center, the Talking Book Library for the Blind and the California History and Genealogy room with a budget of more than $24.7-million.