Rex Lierse, 4, of Jersey Shore looks at one of the books he selected during a recent trip to the Jersey Shore Library. KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

JERSEY SHORE-For 75 years the small rural community of Jersey Shore has had a library. A place where its residents could go to borrow books, read magazines and newspapers and in recent years find movies and connect with the world through the computers there.

The library is currently located in a former church at 110 Oliver St. Patrons are surrounded by beautiful architecture and stained glass windows, remnants of the building’s former life. But it wasn’t always so,

During the early years of the public library it was housed in the high school library. Patrons would have to come to the school to borrow books.

“The public library basically followed when a new school was built. When the new high school was built on Thompson Street in 1959 the library was renovated and moved as well, and it was that way up until the purchase of this facility for the library,” said Charlene Brungard, director.

“The public library was there. It was open to the public, but it was contained within the high school building,” she added.

The library was on the second floor of the building, so you would have had to go in and walk through the building in order to get to the library, whether you were a student or somebody from the public.

The push to open a library really came after World War II, Brungard explained.

“People started talking and being interested in having a public library. And then it was after World War Two that the interest flared again to really have a more active public library that was available to the public,” she said.

“There was a push by Dr Samuel Carter. He is the one who asked the school board to allow the citizens of Jersey Shore to be able to use the high school library. The grand opening of the new library was held on January 12, 1950 and special credit was given to Dr Carter, dentist and school director and his sister, Helen Carter, an English teacher for the organization of the new library,” she said.

The inventory for the library included the school’s books and around 2,000 volumes that the James V Brown Library had sent, to be added into the collection.

Although there are no statistics of how many people actually used the library which it was at the school, Brungard feels it may have intimidated people by being in that location.

In 1999, the library then moved to its current location, although it certainly didn’t look like it does today. The previous owners had boarded up the stained glass windows. The library chose to uncover the beautiful works of craftsmanship which adds to the aesthetic of the facility.

The move also offered the library an opportunity to expand its collection of books to about 3,000 volumes.

Today it has over 21,000 physical items including books, DVD’s, audio books, music, newspapers, magazines, and Wi-fi hotspots. Plus they have access to state-provided and their own purchase subscription service through things like Libby and Hoopla. They also have other databases that they purchase directly.”Tumble Books is a database for children’s books. We also provide A to Z the USA, which is a database that kids can use to research all the different states, get all the various facts about all the different states,” Brungard explained.

During the summer months, they offer an active program for school aged children.

The number of visitors has also increased to over 30,000 in any given year coming through their doors.

For some, the library is more than just a repository of books, it is a link to the outside world and a warm, welcoming spot during the day.

“I think Jersey Shore is really blessed for a community this size, where we have a hospital in this town, we have a Y in this town, and we have a public library in this town. All of these things make the community whole and healthy. There’s one faction that says libraries are no longer important because we can get everything off of the internet,” she said.

“Generally, you know, what we see here are the people who cannot afford to have the luxuries of having access to be able to buy books, to be able to buy magazines and newspapers, to be able to pay for monthly Internet access, that come in here to utilize the services. And the the demand and the need is growing more and more. We have more and more, you know, people coming in to take advantage of the services that we provide. Unfortunately, things are getting tougher for people, and we’re trying to meet the community’s needs,” she said.

“We have a really good relationship here as well with a couple of the local facilities that work with people who are on different spectrums as well, and they come here to, you know, give them a chance to interact with people. And to, you know, utilize the inventory that we have, whatever the, you know, books, the computers. And then they go over to the love center. Some of them work over there. Some of them just eat over there. So it also helps them to become better rounded people as well and have interaction and treat them just like everybody else,” Brungard added.

To celebrate their anniversary, the library will be holding an open house Friday from ll a.m. to 4 p.m. An anniversary celebration dinner is also planned for next month at the Gamble Farm Inn. More information about these events is on the library’s website: https://jsplpa.org.