Alamogordo Public Library is the

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

serving

Alamogordo, New Mexico Alamogordo () is a city in and the county seat of Otero County, New Mexico, United States. A city in the Tularosa Basin of the Chihuahuan Desert, it is bordered on the east by the Sacramento Mountains and to the west by Holloman Air Force ...

and

Otero County, New Mexico Otero County () is a county located in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2020 census, the population was 67,839. Its county seat is Alamogordo. Its southern boundary is the Texas state line. It is named for Miguel Antonio Otero, the ter ...

. The library has extensive collections of Spanish-language and German-language books and of materials related to the Western writer

Eugene Manlove Rhodes Eugene Manlove Rhodes (January 19, 1869 – June 27, 1934) was an American writer, nicknamed the "cowboy chronicler". He lived in south central New Mexico when the first cattle ranching and cowboys arrived in the area; when he moved to New York wi ...

History

Alamogordo Public Library first opened on March 1, 1900. Alamogordo was unusual for a Southwestern town at the time in that it was a planned community, the planning being carried out by Charles Bishop Eddy's and John Arthur Eddy's Alamogordo Improvement Company. The Eddys saw a library as being necessary for their community and they gave financial support to the Alamogordo Woman's Club to start the library. Ownership passed to an offshoot, the Alamogordo Library Association, and then to the Civic League. The Civic League retained ownership of the library until 1958 when it was sold for one dollar to the City of Alamogordo. The library had resided in a series of rented rooms until 1962 when a library building was constructed at 920 Oregon Avenue. The building was and cost $175,000. John Reed of Albuquerque was the architect. The library building was doubled in size in 1987 to at a cost of $871,042. The architect was again John Reed. In 2001 a block of land next to the current library was donated to the city to be the site of a new library building, planned at . Bond elections in 2005 and 2009 to fund construction of the new building failed.

Services

Alamogordo Public Library is a city-owned library, but library cards are free to all residents of Otero County. (County government pays a yearly subsidy to the city for this service; in FY 2008 the subsidy was $35,320. ) The library has 112,000 items in its collection, including

book A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...

s, and

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

s. There are extensive collections of Spanish-language and German-language books. (The

German Air Force The German Air Force (, ) is the aerial warfare branch of the , the armed forces of Germany. The German Air Force (as part of the ) was founded in 1956 during the era of the Cold War as the aerial warfare branch of the armed forces of West Ger ...

has a tactical training center at

Holloman Air Force Base Holloman Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base established in 1942 located six miles (10 km) southwest of the central business district of Alamogordo, which is the county seat of Otero County, New Mexico, United States. The b ...

near

Alamogordo Alamogordo () is a city in and the county seat of Otero County, New Mexico, Otero County, New Mexico, United States. A city in the Tularosa Basin of the Chihuahuan Desert, it is bordered on the east by the Sacramento Mountains (New Mexico), Sac ...

, and many German families live in the city.) Inter-library loan services are provided. Through the Alamogordo Public Library's inter-library loan service, patrons can request any type of material that is usually available at a public library, including books, photocopies, microfilm, and consumer audio books. The library also has learning kits, board games, and an extensive "library of things" for checkout, including everything from cake pans to a pressure washer to museum passes. The library installed a system for automating collection and catalog records in 1995, and the catalog became available over the Internet in 2004. The library has 12 adult computers and 6 children's computers that are free to library customers and visitors. These provide Internet access and Microsoft Office programs; the children's computers have some educational programs. The library also offers free wireless Internet (WiFi) access. The children's

Summer Reading Program Summer reading programs take place at 95% of Public library, public libraries in the United States. Children, teens, and adults participate in activities meant to encourage reading, such as keeping a reading log. Other names for summer reading pro ...

is held every year. There are entertainment programs throughout the summer, and prizes given to all readers. In 2007 there were 1,496 children in the program. A homebound delivery program at the library offers free selection and delivery of books to customers who find it difficult to come into the library. The program operates in cooperation with the Alamogordo Senior Center's Retired Senior and Volunteer Program.

Notable features and collections

The Story Book Wall is a collection of 247 tiles illustrating children's books and installed on the wall near the Children's Library. Drawings were created by local schoolchildren in 1963 and copied onto tiles. The project was carried out by the local chapter of

American Association of University Women The American Association of University Women (AAUW), officially founded in 1881, is a non-profit organization that advances Justice, equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research. The organization has a nationwide Social net ...

. The

Room, constructed as part of the 1987 expansion, holds the library's collection of Southwest books and materials. Within the room are a bank teller wall rescued from a bank in Vaughn, New Mexico and desks and other pieces of furniture from the early 1900s. In 1958 the Civic League purchased W. H. Hutchinson's collection of Eugene Manlove Rhodes materials and donated them to the library. The collection consists of books, correspondence, clippings, some magazines, and a few original manuscripts. These items and some other Rhodes-related items collected by past library director June Harwell have been photocopied, cataloged, and scanned into computer files and are available to researchers.

Notes

External links

Friends of the Alamogordo Public Library
Advocacy group for the library.
Alamogordo Speaker Series
Subcommittee of the Friends of the Library, that produces an annual event with regional and cultural significance to the Otero County community {{Authority control Public libraries in New Mexico Tourist attractions in Alamogordo, New Mexico Alamogordo, New Mexico Buildings and structures in Otero County, New Mexico Education in Otero County, New Mexico Library buildings completed in 1962