EATONTOWN Having been a pillar of education for more than 100 years, the Eatontown Public Library reminds residents about “Library Card Sign-up” month.
This September marks the 30th anniversary of Library Card Sign-up Month, a time when the American Library Association joins public libraries nationwide to highlight the value of a library card, according to a prepared statement from the association.
“People should sign up because it’s free. You can take out books without paying. Also, DVD’s, CDs and audio books. You can use the library from your home to look up things on-line. You can download books, movies and MP3s from the comfort of their homes,” Barbara Sacco said, Eatontown Public Library manager.
To sign up for a free library cards residents may visit the library to sign up, which is located at 33 Broad St.
Since 1987, Library Card Sign-up Month has been held each September to mark the beginning of the school year. Libraries work to remind parents and youth that signing up for a library card is the first step toward academic achievement and lifelong learning, according to a prepared statement.
With a library card, Sacco explains that locals will have access to, “Free Wi-Fi, access to newspapers and magazines, internet and computer access, cheap entertainment in the form of programs, and activities offered for free. Book clubs for adults and summer reading club for kids. The library has expert help in our staff free for the asking.”
The library was first incorporated on February 25, 1903 as “The Eatontown Literary Society.” Then the Eatontown Public Library was incorporated on January 30, 1974. The Library was first housed in a drugstore on Broad Street run by James Weed Nafew and Ada B. Nafew, according to Sacco.
James Nafew came from Springfield, Illinois, where he was the proprietor of a store and his best customer was the wife of Abraham Lincoln, president-to-be. Eventually James Nafew came to Eatontown and purchased the Hunt’s Drug Store, according to Sacco.
“Mrs. Ada B. Nafew started the town’s first circulating library. Then moved in 1900-1903 to the Washington Lodge, the oldest Masonic order in New Jersey. [The library] then moved to the back of the post office and then made it’s way to borough hall on the corner of Broad and Main Streets. In January 1990 the library moved again to the former local post office where it is housed today,” Sacco said.
The library has several events planned that include: Read to a Therapy Dog, at 4 p.m., on Sept. 20; Unsung Heroines: The Role of Women in the American Civil War, at 2-4 p.m., on Sept. 24; Memory Loss, Dementia and Alzheimer’s: The Basics, at 2-4 p.m., on Oct. 22; How to Protect Yourself from Phone and Computer Fraud, 2-4 p.m., on Nov. 19, at the Eatontown Community Center, according to Sacco.
For more information visit the Eatontown Pubic Library Facebook page and visit www.eatontownnj.com/library-home-page/.
Contact Vashti Harris at [email protected].