The library is primarily supported by the City of Columbus, Texas, but also by contributions from Colorado County, Texas, and from a private foundation, the Nesbitt Memorial Library Foundation, Inc. Donations to the foundation may be sent to the library.

The library is at 529 Washington Street in Columbus, Texas (78934), across the street from the city's public elementary school and some two blocks from the courthouse.

In a routine week, the library is open to the public for 55 hours. The library opens every Monday through Saturday at 9 a.m. It closes on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at 7 p.m., on Thursday and Friday at 6 p.m., and on Saturday at 4 p.m. The library is closed every Sunday, and on New Years Day, Martin Luther King Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Independence Day (July 4), Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, the day after Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day. Should any of the enumerated holidays fall on a Sunday, the library will also be closed on the following Monday. Should any of the holidays fall on a Saturday, the library will also be closed on the preceding Friday. Should any of the holidays fall on a Friday, the library will also be closed on the following Saturday.

The library has three full time and two part time employees. They are:

• Director/Archivist Bill Stein

• Assistant Librarian Susan Archuletta

• Assistant Librarian Bernadette Marsh

• Library Clerk Jake Wegenhoft

• Library Clerk Morgan Griffin

The library has a seven member advisory board. The members are: Patty Simmons (chairman), Laura Ann Rau (vice chairman), Elizabeth Flint, Joe Hluchanek, Sally Rogers, Roger Wade, and Tracey Wegenhoft.

• Building Size, in Square Feet 9,420

• Number of Card Holders 6,700

• Annual Circulation 50,000

• Number of Items in Collection 40,000

• Number of Non-Fiction Books 15,000

• Number of Fiction Books 5,500

• Number of Children's Books 9,000

• Number of Audiobooks 1,000

• Number of Large Print Books 500

• Number of Videotapes 1,500

• Number of DVDs 1,500

• Number of Music CDs 1,200

Any person who is more than six years old can become a patron of the Nesbitt Memorial Library; that is, they can be issued a library card. Persons who are less than eighteen years old may not obtain a library card unless their parent or legal guardian assumes responsibility for them.

Persons who can demonstrate that they are bona fide residents of Texas may obtain a library card at no charge. Other persons may obtain a library card by paying a one-time only, non-refundable fee of $10.

The library has fourteen public access computers, which provide patrons access to the card catalog, the Internet, and various word processors, games, etc. The library does have a WiFi environment.

The Friends of the Nesbitt Memorial Library is a dues-paying organization without elected officers, bylaws, meetings, or duties. The dues paid by members directly benefit the Nesbitt Memorial Library Foundation, Inc. Members are entitled to discounts at the library's ongoing book sale, plus invitations and guaranteed admission to events sponsored by the Friends.

The library conducts an ongoing sale of items it has culled from its collection and items that were donated by the public but not added to the collection. The proceeds of the book sale directly benefit the Nesbitt Memorial Library Foundation, Inc.

Since 1997, the Friends of the Nesbitt Memorial Library have sponsored talks and book-signings by a number of authors and historians, including Elmer Kelton, Randolph B. Campbell, Robert Flynn, Barry A. Crouch, Susan Wittig Albert, Donaly E. Brice, Leon Hale, James L. Haley, Stephen L. Hardin, Judith Henry Wall, Bill Crider, Donley Watt, Charles D. Spurlin, William C. Foster, Chuck Parsons, Bob Huffaker, Veva Vonler, Charlene S. Ragsdale, William Clamurro, Michael Corcoran, Bill Crawford, Mike Cox, Wyman Meinzer, and Gail Folkins.

In 2001, the Friends conducted the first annual Lee Quinn Nesbitt Symposium on Texas History and Culture, which featured T. R. Fehrenbach, Wolfram M. Von-Maszewski, and Joe Tom Davis. The second symposium, in 2002, brought Robert Flynn, James L. Haley, and Jean Flynn to the library. The third symposium, in 2003, featured talks on subjects connected to the Texas Rangers by Robert M. Utley, Paul N. Spellman, Harold J. Weiss, James C. Kearney, Chuck Parsons, and Allen G. Hatley. The fourth, in 2004, featured talks on the ethnic history of Texans by the general editor and some of the authors of the Texans All series, including James M. Smallwood, Allan O. Kownslar, Phyllis McKenzie, and Sara Massey.

Since 2003, the library has conducted a tour of one of two local cemeteries. The tour, known as Live Oaks and Dead Folks, has evolved into the library's most successful and most famous event.

The library's meeting room has 754 square feet of useable floor space (26 x 29), plus a kitchenette, a video projector, large screen, and sound system, a podium, a dry-erase board, and numerous tables and chairs. It will accommodate about 70 people. It is available to groups or individuals whose purposes are compatible with the library's mission, i.e., they are informational, educational, cultural, or charitable in nature, provided those groups agree to abide by these restrictions: (1) all meetings must be open to the public and to the media, (2) though meetings of religious study groups are allowed, religious services are not permitted, (3) no meeting at which participants intend to advocate, promote, or discuss any illegal activity is permitted, (4) no meeting that is incompatible with a library setting, i.e., which make a considerable amount of noise or otherwise create a disturbance, is permitted, (5) no group may use the meeting room as its regular meeting hall.

Entities engaged in for-profit endeavors, or which charge a fee to any person in attendance, must pay a fee of $10 per hour or a flat fee of $20 per day, whichever is higher, to use the meeting room. All other entities must pay a flat fee of $20 per day. All fees are payable in advance.

Entities may reserve the meeting room either in person, by telephone, or by mail. To reserve the meeting room, the library must be provided with (1) the name of the entity which intends to have the meeting, (2) the name, address, and telephone number of an individual who assumes responsibility for the entity, and (3) the total number of persons expected to attend the meeting or event. The Nesbitt Memorial Library and the City of Columbus have first priority in the use of the meeting room and may pre-empt other scheduled meetings.

The meeting room may be used on any day between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m. Entities which intend to use the meeting room at a time when the library is closed must secure a key to the room during regular library hours on the last day the library is open before the scheduled meeting.

In keeping with the wishes of Lee Quinn Nesbitt, the library's donor and benefactor, the library places a strong emphasis on the history, genealogy, literature, and culture of Texas and local residents. The Texas Collection includes books and other printed material collected by Lee Quinn Nesbitt and by the Colorado County Historical Commission. It was greatly augmented with funds provided by the estate of Catherine Dumraese, a Colorado County resident who died in 1981, and by donations of books from the Shropshire-Upton Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy.

The library's Texas Collection contains about 4000 books, about half of which are incorporated into the circulating section of the library and half of which are classified as reference material and shelved in the Texas Room. Some extremely rare or poor condition books are stored in the archival vault, and are accessible only by request and only under the direct supervision of library staff.

The Archives of the Nesbitt Memorial Library exists to collect, preserve, and make available for research, original source materials that are historically significant to Columbus, Colorado County, and the surrounding area. In the 1970s, the Colorado County Historical Commission established the Colorado County Archives, which was housed at the courthouse for most of its existence. In 1986, the facility was discontinued and the collection moved from the courthouse, with part of it being deposited in the Eula and David Wintermann Library in Eagle Lake and part of it in the Nesbitt Memorial Library. Since being established in 1987, the Archives of the Nesbitt Memorial Library has incorporated the genealogy and local history papers compiled by Lee Quinn Nesbitt and numerous documents and photographs from other Colorado County families.

The archives consists of documents, photographs, newspapers, various printed materials, maps, audio tapes, and video tapes. The archives does not include artifacts, furniture, clothing, or other items commonly considered to be museum pieces.

The archives has more than fifty collections of documents, more than 3000 photographs, copies (on microfilm or on paper) of every known extant issue of every known Colorado County newspaper, numerous local telephone books and school annuals, and dozens of maps of the county and its communities. The material in the archives is available for use only by request and only under the direct supervision of library staff.

From 1989 through 2001, the archives published the Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, which featured articles and other material directly relevant to Colorado County and its history. In all, 37 issues of the journal were produced. 

The library has the most comprehensive collection of Colorado County genealogy materials, and a useful collection of genealogy materials regarding Texas and the states of the southern United States. The collection includes the census schedules for Colorado and the four surrounding counties (Austin, Fayette, Lavaca, and Wharton), some local church records, family files, and a number of land, military, and immigration records.

In 1987, the library began locating and cataloging the cemeteries of Colorado County. A list of all persons known or suspected to have been buried in Colorado County, together with a description of all identified cemeteries and burial sites, can be found elsewhere on this website.

The library is home to Lee Quinn Nesbitt's extensive collection of dolls, which is on permanent display in the children's section. In recent years, other persons, including Tracey Wegenhoft, Dorothy Albrecht, Terry Ford, and Elizabeth Massey, have donated additional dolls to the collection. The collection now boasts more than 200 dolls and doll related artifacts from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

In 2001, the library acquired two detailed, large-scale replicas of Columbus buildings made by William H. Harrison in the 1980s. The replicas are on exhibit in the library.

The library has a small collection of original art, including works by Porfirio Salinas, Kindred McLeary, and Paulina Van Bavel-Kearney. It also houses a collection of fine-art reproductions which are available for checkout.