Public libraries, open in nearly every North Carolina community, are linked together through the State Library, ensuring that users in all parts of the state can have access to printed, filmed, and recorded materials. Total volumes in the 75 public libraries numbered 14,812,562 in 2000, when circulation reached 42,539,000. Major university research libraries are located at the Chapel Hill, Raleigh, and Greensboro campuses of the University of North Carolina and at Duke University in Durham. The North Carolina Collection and Southern Historical Collection at the Chapel Hill campus are especially noteworthy. Total public library income in 2000 was $145,107,000; including $1,596,177 in federal grants and $17,267,773 in state grants.
North Carolina had 188 museums and historical sites in 2000. Established in 1956, the North Carolina Museum of Art, in Raleigh, is one of only two state-supported art museums in the US (the other is in Virginia); the museum had an attendance of 233,893 in 1999. The North Carolina Museum of History is in Raleigh, with an annual attendance of 239,642. The Department of Cultural Resources administers 20 state historical sites and Tryon Place Restoration in New Bern. The Museum of Natural History in Raleigh is maintained by the state Department of Agriculture; smaller science museums exist in Charlotte, Greensboro, and Durham.