Kathleen Skaar founded the Christian Library International in March 1996 after she became a born-again Christian at a church retreat. Her spiritual experience gave her hunger for Christian books. While she believed that nothing could take the place of the Bible, she yearned for books that explained Biblical principles and applied them to everyday life. Just prior to starting the Library, she had completed her MBA and had owned several businesses, including a children's bookstore.

When Kathleen couldn't find the books she wanted in the public library, and realized that she couldn't afford to buy every book she wanted, she decided to start the Christian Library. She felt led by God to find a focal point in the community that would be accessible to a broader group of people and began looking for a store or building that someone would donate to the Library.

Then one morning her husband Anders finished his morning swim at the Finley YMCA in North Raleigh and mentioned to a staff member about having a few bookshelves of Christian books. The YMCA was immediately interested. Christian books are available for YMCA members and non-members alike. God wanted the new Christian library to begin as an outreach mission.

The first library opened in June 1996 at the Finley YMCA with one bookcase of about 100 books. The bookshelves were located in the corridor by the adult service center. About 15,000 people pass by these books every month. The library is open as long as the YMCA is open since there is a self-checkout, honor system. The next year, CLI had expanded to the other two YMCAs in the Raleigh area. Our focus falls directly in line with the YMCA's mission to put Christian principles into action through practice.

Christian Library International was incorporated March 1996 and received IRS Non-Profit status 501(c)(3) on July 1, 1996. Today, Christian Library International has hundreds of prison outreaches all over the world!