Jefferson Carnegie Library

About Us :

In 1902 the Y.M.C.A. in Jefferson went defunct leaving the Ladies Auxiliary of that organization in possession of some carpet, three rooms of furniture and a $50.00 debt. In the furniture was a Werneck bookcase and 30 volumes that had been donated. The ladies met and decided to form a library association and use the 30 books to begin a public library.

The public library was formally opened on July 7, 1903 with four persons present and six books checked out. Interest picked up and a lot was deeded for a library to be built with a Carnegie grant of $10,000. On April 15, 1907 J.F. Berry of Morris Count was selected as the contractor with a bid of $8750.

Over the years the library has been used for a school when the local school burned, dance studio, Red Cross headquarters, youth center, office space for various government agencies (e.g. W.P.A.), museum and sewing center for the needy.

In 1907 there were 10 cent teas and $l.00 annual membership drives…there was a proposal to the city that for $30.00 a month the library would provide restroom services to visitors so that “attendants would be available to care for children, good fires in winter, and ice water in the summer, and a dressing room so that ladies after their long ride may tidy up before undertaking the work of spending money with merchants in the city.

Today, the library, which is not owned by the city, depends heavily on donations and the fund raising efforts of the Friends of the Jefferson Carnegie Library to continue.

The Friends in recent years have held a bass tournament, 4th of July cake auction, Labor Day golf tournament and the raffle of a child’s playhouse, built by Friends members, at Christmas.

The library has the latest best sellers as well as other fiction books available for checkout. We also offer non-fiction books, a large selection of childrens' books, large print books, videos, dvds, and audio books on cassette and cd, for check out. All of these items may be checked out for a period of two (2) weeks and may be renewed one time. For in house use we have computers for word processing as well as internet access. Also available is wireless internet. Coping services in both black and white and color as well as fax sending and receiving are offered for a nominal fee.