Mission:

The Griswold Public Library's Mission Statement was developed in 2003 by the Griswold Planning for Results Committee facilitated by Karen Burns, Southwest Iowa Library Service Area Consultant. It is reviewed and updated yearly by the Library Board of Trustees.

The mission of the Griswold Public Library is to provide citizens with knowledgeable staff and a collection of information in a variety of formats, including electronic, to enable people of all ages to achieve personal growth through self-directed learning in areas of interest to them; assistance in using appropriate resources, whether in-house or off-site, to find and effectively use the information they need and provide current materials to support their cultural, social and recreational needs.

History:

The Griswold Public Library has been serving the people of Griswold and the surrounding area since 1914. The first library was established in 1914 by the Women's Civic Club. It was an upstairs reading room over a hardware store on the south side of Main Street. The first librarian was Mrs. E. McCarthy. She was paid five dollars a month.

In 1922 the library moved to a back room of the bank, and for five years it was rent free. The women collected ten cents a week from the businessmen on main street to help pay expenses. The librarian was paid eighteen dollars a month.

In 1933 the library moved to the city hall building which was built by the W.P.A. Project (Works Project Administration). The Women's Civic Club was still the sponsor.

In 1940 the City of Griswold took over the sponsorship of the library. In 1954 the Summer Reading Program was started.

In January, 1977, after much hard work by many people, a new brick building was completed at 505 Main Street where we are still located. We automated our collection in 2003 and received State Library of Iowa Accreditation for the first time July 1st, 2005. In the fall of 2005 the city purchased the empty building next to the library for expansion. We have been raising funds to begin renovation of this much needed space. In fall of 2006, Chuck Edwards from Rolling Hills Bank talked with Griswold's Mayor, Jerry Putnam, and City Clerk, Dawn Ridlen about donating the bank building to the city for the library. Of course they said yes and the legal process began. We will be moving to the bank building sometime in the future when the bank completes a new building on the corner lot of hwy 92 & 48.

Our collection now includes 15,404 books, 288 videos and DVDs, and 1000 books on tape and CD. In addition we offer our customers Internet access through five public access computers, InterLibrary Loan, programs for children and adults, assistance with your information needs, an on-line Public Access Catalog--and this website!  Please visit us often!

The library is governed by our five-member board of trustees, who plan for serving you, set policy that will enable us to serve you well and manage the finances so that the money is effectively used to serve you.

The board meets the last Thursday of each month except December at 5:00 p.m. in the library. The public is welcome to attend any of our meetings.