For a community with nearly 5,000 residents, New Boston has a great resource in their public library. But the facility is in dire need of either a new home or a major overhaul on the current building.

“We currently need to raise an estimated $100,000 for the entire project,” says library director Christine Woodrow. “With that money we could carpet, paint, replace fixtures, add extensions and put a sign out front.”

The 5,500 square-foot facility stores over 23,000 books and DVDs, five public access computers and, depending on the time of year, has a weekly circulation of approximately 500 items. Originally housed at City Hall, the library moved to its current location, a former Chevrolet showroom, in 1987.

Each week the library hosts a number of great programs, including quarterly visits from area authors, genealogy society meetings, and movie matinees on alternating Wednesdays through Aug. 8. With a new facility, there would be more room for these events and the library could accommodate larger numbers of patrons.

New Boston Public Library public access computers
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The Friends of the Library does what it can to raise money for the library by sponsoring used book sales. But those funds usually go to books, supplies, and items for the summer reading club and other events. The next book sale takes place Aug. 18 from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Woodrow is currently applying for grants from various foundations and organizations but there’s no guarantee she will be able to obtain them and even if she can, she doesn’t know when those funds would be available.

If you’d like to help the library with their growing pains, please send your charitable donations to the building fund at Friends of the Library, 127 N. Ellis St., New Boston, Texas 75570.

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