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Newton library to celebrate fourth birthday By
Katrina Cartwright NEWTON -- The Newton library is celebrating its fourth birthday on May 4, and the whole town is invited for cake, ice cream and fun. The library began in 1998 with a $50 donation from the Logan Literary Club. Originally, it depended on donated books and volunteer time. Now it has over 30,000 books and four computers with Internet access. It is open 20 hours a week. "We now buy new books and no longer have to rely on donated ones," said Carol Milligan, one of two librarians. "We now have a grandparents program and other donations and grants." The grandparents program lets people from outside the community donate at least $100 a year to the library, Milligan said. The names of the donors are on a plaque near the library entrance, and there are currently 24 individuals or couples who have donated with this program. "Many of the people from the community have been involved all the way along and still are," Milligan said. Utah's First Lady Jackie Leavitt and Elaine Hatch are both from Newton and have helped the library with books, supplies and equipment. In addition, the Richmond, Lewiston, North Logan and Providence libraries have donated books, shelving equipment and copy machines, Milligan said. "We have well over 30,000 books on the shelves, and we are constantly receiving new ones," Milligan said. "Our concentration is on children's books. Our main goal here is to serve the children of the community and then to house historic documents." Beckie Griffin, who works near the library, said the children of the community put it to good use. "Most of the kids here go and do their homework over there," Griffin said. "They use it a lot. It's a big asset to the community." The library has programs that involve the entire community. The first Monday of every month is a town-wide Family Night with various themes, Griffin said. Fifty to 100 residents attend any given Family Night, Milligan added. At 10:30 every Thursday morning the library has a story time for pre-school children where guest readers read books they or someone else have written. Every Saturday at 12:30 p.m., a similar story time is held for residents of all ages. The library has contests every month for children of the community. They can get prizes for reading and studying whatever is the topic of the month. This month the children have been learning about the states. The library began as an idea of Cleo Griffin, who is now the head librarian. She was in charge of literacy in the community for the Logan Literary Club and decided Newton needed books for the community because it didn't have a library, Milligan said. "Cleo had a vision and it's coming to pass," Milligan said. "The library grows bigger and bigger and gets better and better. The community has really benefited from it." Now the library serves Cache Junction, Clarkston, Trenton, Amalga and Smithfield as well as Newton. "We serve all the communities on the west side, not just Newton," Milligan said. "The library is open to anyone."
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