The first Williamstown public library was organized in 1874 and housed in Cole’s Store on the corner of Water Street and Main Street (Route 2). By 1941, the Elizabeth Sanford Botsford Memorial Building, across 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 been highly successful annual events ever since.
With the library’s move in 1996 to the former Pine Cobble School building, it was renamed as the David and Joyce Milne Public Library and became the institution we know 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.