About Our Library
Colfax-Perry Township Public Library serves the Clinton Prairie K-12 Schools and citizens of Perry Township and the town of Colfax, IN. The Mission of Colfax-Perry Township Public Library is to maintain and improve the quality of life for all citizens of our community by providing resources that enhance and contribute to individual knowledge, enlightenment, and enjoyment. We especially recognize our responsibility to serve as a place for children to discover the joy of reading and the value of libraries. The library strives to provide the best library materials, print, non-print, and electronic available within our means. Interlibrary Loan via INCOLSA augments our collection and offers patrons services equal to larger libraries.
The library’s goal is to develop a collection which reflects the present as well as future needs and interests of our patrons. The Library Trustees and Staff are united in the belief that a library should offer “something for everyone” through its collections, technical services, and programs.
History
The movement toward a Public Library for Colfax and Perry Twp. was begun in 1913, by Mr. Leslie Busenburg the Superintendent of the Colfax Schools, through the Parent-Teacher Organization. This organization, with the aid of Mr. Busenburg’s successor, Mr. Ira W. Connor, kept the idea growing in the public mind by agitation and calling in representatives of the Public Library Commission to talk on the subject whenever the occasion permitted. In the early spring of 1915, Mrs. G. H. Laughrey, President of the Parent-Teacher Organization, appointed a committee to lay the matter before the Town Board of Trustees and also circulate a petition throughout the township, to be signed by 50 or more real estate holders, asking that a tax levy be made for the maintenance of a library. Correspondence with the Carnegie Foundation, asking for an appropriation, with which to build a Library was also begun. As a result, the Town Board of Trustees of the Town of Colfax, on Apr. 5 – 1915, passed an Ordinance levying a tax of 1 mil on each dollar of the assessed valuation of property in the town of Colfax for the purpose of establishing, increasing, & maintaining a Public Library in said town. The building was completed, furnished, books placed on the shelves and opened to the public with dedicatory services in May 1917. The total cost was $9,742. ---reprinted from original handwritten notes of Miss Maude Rosenberger, Librarian
No major changes or additions were made to the original building until 2006; when a proposal was approved to renovate the building to make it accessible, reclaim the lower level to be used for children’s library services, add new space for a local history museum, a staff work area, with state-of-the art HVAC systems, modern restrooms, and an IT phone system to facilitate private and public networks. The construction project was completed in January 2007. The rededication ceremony took place May 5, 2007.
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