It began in 1909…
The Britton Public Library began in 1909 as the Britton Study Club. Through 1913 the Study club members made themselves responsible for the financial aid to the library by special dues collected at each meeting. There were several locations for the reading room as it was called. One of the earliest was in a store which stood at the corner of Main and Seventh. In November of 1911 the reading room moved into the “Sentinel” office, the local newspaper office, for a fee of $10.00 per month. In 1912 the Study Club asked the city to collect taxes to pay for the financial upkeep of the library. In 1914 the city council agreed upon the proposal from the Carnegie Library to build the library with the grant of $10,000, and the city would support and maintain it forever. The library moved into the Carnegie Library on February 1, 1921. Here it remained until 2002. That year it was decided to move the library and neighboring swimming pool as the school needed to grow. A location at 7th Street and 8th Avenue was chosen for the new library. The library opened on October 13, 2002, at this location.
Additional Services
Services & Resources
- Notary services
- Proctoring services
- Assistance with applications (jobs, passports, driver’s licenses, etc.)
- Technical assistance for cell phones, tablets, and laptops
- Vibe Board available for Zoom meetings
- Libby and Librista apps
- B.A.R.D. (Braille and Audio Reading Device) available
Programs, Activities & Community Outreach
- Adult computer classes
- Adult Pilates and Yoga class
- Summer Reading Program for Adults and Kids
- Coffee Klatch
- Adult Bingo
- Adult Crafts
- Building Buddies
- Jr. Crafts
- Master Gardener class (Spring)
- 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program
- Board games available for use
- Ongoing jigsaw puzzles
- Coloring and activity sheets
- Community meeting room available
- Books provided to Spruce Court
- Books supplied to Little Libraries in:
- Ft. Sisseton
- Eden
- Lake City
- Roy Lake
Collections, Materials & Special Items
- Seed Library (Seed Exchange Program)
- Cake pans available for checkout
- State Park pass (1 available for checkout)
- Used magazines and books for sale
- Recipe Exchange
- Current magazines and newspapers available, including
-
- Time
- People
- Midwest Living
- All Recipes
- National Geographic
- The Marshall County Journal
- The Aberdeen Insider
- Saturday Evening Post
- Reader’s Digest
- Smithsonian
- Taste of Home
- South Dakota Magazine