Editing Beresford, South Dakota (section)

===Library===
The Beresford Library was originally conceived and nurtured by the [[Beresford Study Club]]. In 1923, a committee was appointed to come up with the necessary planning and arrangements. At first, the club members were the ones who contributed books to the library via a book shower, which resulted in forty volumes of [[reference work]]s as well as [[fiction]]. Not long after this, the public was invited to donate books to the collection, and this effort produced another hundred books. The study club started up a fund for the library foundation, and through various [[fundraising]] efforts accrued $300 for the purchase of more books.<ref name="75th Diamond Jubilee">Beresford's 75th Diamond Jubilee, p.24</ref> In 1924, both the size and popularity of the library were too much for the women of the study club to sponsor, so they appealed to the city attorney to see if the city would take over responsibility, and at the December meeting of the library board meeting that same year, it was officially announced that the city would take over the library.<ref name="75th Diamond Jubilee"/>

The original library occupied a small area on the second floor of the fire station. As of 1959, there were approximately 10,000 volumes classified with the [[Dewey Decimal Classification|Dewey Decimal System]].<ref name="75th Diamond Jubilee"/> In 1963, with the help of the local [[Boy Scouts of America|Boy Scouts]], the library moved to a new home in the former [[Post Office]] building. This was also the time when new forms of media were added to the collection, such as talking books, film strips, and movie projectors.<ref name="Centennial book">Beresford 1884-1984, edited by the Centennial Book Committee, 1983, p. 157</ref> In 1972, the library was expanded further by refurbishing the basement, which would house the youth library. By 1983, the library collection consisted of approximately 20,000 books and much media.<ref name="Centennial book"/> The current library resides on 3rd Street, and was opened to the public in that venue in the fall of 1992.<ref>Beresford Republic, April 29, 1993</ref>  The library currently holds nearly 30,000 items.