The first Williamstown public library was organized in 1874
and housed in Cole’s Store (now The Browns) on Water Street. By 1941, the Elizabeth Sanford Botsford Memorial Building on Main Street had become the library’s home. In 1989, a committee of library supporters came together to form a Friends group to raise additional private funds to help the library. These funds came primarily from two sources: a used book sale, and a membership drive. Both fundraisers have become highly successful annual events ever since.
With the move in 1996 to the former Pine Cobble School building, the library was renamed as the David and Joyce Milne Public Library and took on the form in which we know it today. The Friends also took on a new name: Friends of the David and Joyce Milne Public Library, Inc..
The Friends continues to support the mission and goals of the library by raising public awareness and advocating for library programs and needs. The Friends also supplements town, state, and trustee funding of materials, programs, equipment, and staff development.