Our Mission and Vision

Library Mission Statement

The Red Bank Public Library, a cornerstone of the community, enhances the social, cultural, and intellectual life of the greater Red Bank area.

Library Vision Statement

The library will be a vital and dynamic force, meeting the changing needs of our diverse and vibrant community.

Library values Statement

  • We acknowledge that people are important, celebrate their diversity, and treat our patrons, co-workers, and volunteers with dignity and respect.

  • We protect each patron’s right to privacy.

  • We resist censorship.

  • We promote and facilitate a lifelong love of reading and learning.

  • We provide free access to information technology.

  • We inform our community of the services and resources available through the Library.

  • We act in a professional manner with integrity, honesty, and fairness.

  • We encourage staff innovation, creativity, teamwork, and superior performance.

  • We inform our community of the services and resources available through the Library.

  • We conduct our business affairs economically, accurately, and with integrity.

  • We stay aware of changing trends and adapt as necessary to meet the evolving needs of our community.

About STELLA

The Red Bank Public Library is proud to be a member of STELLA, a group of more than 40 libraries throughout Monmouth, Middlesex, and Union Counties. STELLA libraries share electronic and physical collection resources (books, DVDs, and other media) and online catalog and circulation systems.

This means that we can offer our patrons access to far more than what's on our shelves and in our digital resource collection — and that patrons enjoy the convenience of borrowing or returning items at any STELLA library! Explore library catalogs via the STELLA website or on mobile devices via the STELLA app! Visit the STELLA website to learn more!

Strategic Plan

Find a PDF of our Library’s 2021-2025 Strategic Plan here.

History of the Library

1878

A group of women in the community start the Red Bank Mutual Library Association with funds raised from private donors. The library's first home is a building on the east side of Broad Street subsequently occupied for many years by Clayton and Magee. A copy of the first catalogue, listing the 334-volume collection, is still available in the present Library.

1880

The Library is moved across the street to a millinery shop owned by Mr. S. B. Vandergrift, who also functioned as the librarian.

1882

A fire destroys most of the collection. Funds are raised and the Library reopens as a "reading room" in the Childs Building on Broad Street.

1890

The Library is incorporated as the Red Bank Library Company.

Andrew Carnegie, famous for endowing libraries, offers $10,000 to the Board for construction of a new building under the stipulation that the Borough supply a site and guarantee $1,000 annually for library maintenance. The offer is refused.

1903

Overcrowding forces a move to the Weiss Building at 14 Monmouth Street.

1910

Residents vote to establish a free public library. The Board turns over its assets to the town, which maintains the Library through the stock market crash of 1929 and the start of the Great Depression.

1923

1932

Overcrowding again forces a move, to the Swift Building at 69 Monmouth Street.

1937

The sons of Sigmund Eisner, longtime Library benefactor, gift the Eisner residence at 84 West Front Street to the Borough of Red Bank for use as a library. The doors open in its permanent home on April 15 of that year.

After some years as a member of the Monmouth County Library System, the Red Bank Library withdraws its membership in the county system. The Eisner family remains active in the development of the Library throughout the years, through Board memberships and donations. The family's involvement has continued to the present day.

1939

Consideration is given to relocating the Library but in the end the decision is made to build an addition instead.

1965

After being housed temporarily in Borough Hall, the Library reopens in a much expanded facility where it remains today. The 1968 building is considered state of the art at the time.

1968

A Master Plan is completed to bring the library up to date, make it ADA-compliant, and restore rooms in the original family home to make them functional as part of the Library.

2002

For several years the Library is engaged in planning, renovating, construction, and refurbishing projects throughout the building. During some of this period, operations are carried out on a reduced scale at a neighboring location. Finally the Library reopens in early 2008, in its current configuration.

2008

In April, the Library celebrates its 75th year as the Red Bank Public Library, and in the Eisner home. Accompanying this celebration is the opening of the New Jersey Local History Room, dedicated to the preservation and study of Red Bank's local and regional history and cultural heritage. Imporant features of the historical collections are objects and documents from the Eisner family, which are accessible to the public and often on exhibit, along with other items of local historical interest.

2012

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the library closed the doors to the physical building, but managed to stay busier than ever — staff members shifted most of their programming online, while the items in the catalog remained available through a new “curbside pick-up” program that allowed patrons to collect their materials without having to come into contact with the staff.

2020