RULES OF THE NIAGARA LIBRARY 1800
Rule I.
To receive from every subscriber three dollars and no more.
Rule II.
As soon as thirty dollars is collected, to lay it out on books, none of which shall be irreligious or immoral.
Rule III.
Every member may, if he chooses, when he pays his subscription, make the choice of a book, which shall be procured for him with all convenient speed.
Rule IV.
As soon as a number of books can be procured (not less than fifty volumes), every subscriber shall be entitled to receive any book that remains in the library that he chooses, which he shall return in one month in good order.
Rule V.
No book shall be allowed to any of the subscribers unless they have first paid their subscription.

Most subscribers were prominent citizens in the early settlement of Niagara area; among these were church representatives, physicians, army officers, civil servants, merchants, businessmen as well as the yeomanry. The subscribers called themselves "proprietors"- the library was privately owned, regular fees were paid and each person received a share.

The original forty-one proprietors were:
Robert Addison, John Boyd, John Burtch, Ebenezer Cavers, John Chisholm, John Decow, Wm. Dorman, G. Drake, Wm. Drake, John Hardy, John Harrold, Andrew Heron, John Hill, Jr., Wm. Hodgkinson, John Jones, George Keefer, Burgoyne Kemp, John Kemp, Thomas Kerr, John McClellan, J. McFarland, Hugh McLaren, Martin McLellan, Peter McMicking, J. Murray, Wm. Musgrove, Robert Nelles, Thos. Otway Page, Benjamin Pawling, John Reilley, Daniel Servos, John Smith, Alex. Stuart, Peter /transferred to John Ten Broeck, Arch Thomson, Peter Thomson, Silvester Tiffany, John Wilson, George Young, John Young, John Young.

Thirty-five proprietors who joined later, making a total of seventy-six members altogether:
George Forsyth, Robert Kerr, John Wales, Charles Selick, Colin McNabb, Wm. Ward, T. Butler, Wm. McClellan, Alex. McKie, Wm. Mann, George Havens, John McEwan, John Powell, Robert Weir, R. Hamilton, Wm. Dickson, James Muirhead, Thomas Powis, Thomas Butler, Isaac Swayzie, John Symington, Israel Burtch, John Ten Broeck, John Silverthorn, John McNabb, John Robertson, George Read, Robert Matthews, Dr. West, J.P. Clement, James Secord, R.C. Cockrell, Tubal Parr, Ensign Barnard, Wm. Claus.