About Us

The Newton Public Library was established in 1927 when a Chicago doctor donated 50 books to the Newton Women’s Club for the purpose of starting a library. The library was first located in a room of the Annex Hotel in Newton and was open 2 or 3 afternoons a week. In 1932 the library was moved to the second floor of City Hall located on North Van Buren Street. By this time the library had about 3,000 volumes. In 1934 the City assumed responsibility of the library and named the first library board. The library was moved to its present location in 1958 after Milo Yelvington purchased the former Star Theatre Building and made the building available to the library. In May of 1999 the building south of the library was purchased and renovations were begun to join the two structures. In April 2003 a referendum was passed to establish a library district serving the public who resides in Newton City limits and Wade Fire Protection District.

In March 2011 the library underwent major remodeling. New rooms were constructed. The inside of the library, as well as the outside took on a modern new look. A meeting room, new junior room, new bathrooms, and a new reading area were all added.

    Today the Newton Public Library District houses 16,959 adult materials and 10,546 junior materials. The library also carries a large selection of audiobooks and DVD’s. Library cards are available to the public who resides in the city limits of Newton and in Wade Fire Protection District at no charge. At this time patrons outside the District pay $90.00 a year for a family card.  At the present time, the library has issued 2,585 library cards.  Check us out on Facebook and Instagram!!  In January 2014 Newton Public Library patrons began checking out ebooks from the library card catalog. They can be downloaded to nooks, ipads, tablets, kindle fire, etc.  These are available through the Cloud Library app and the Libby App. At the present time, there are more than 13,382 titles to choose from.  Audio ebooks are also now available for downloading & there are 1,002 eAudiobooks available or download.