The Colts Neck collection has grown to almost 18,000 volumes owned by the library as well as a large number of volumes borrowed from the county's extension collection service. Approximately 2,000 volumes belong to the Catherine "Kitty" Henning Cookbook collection. This collection was donated by the late Mrs. Henning's estate. Cookbooks now total nearly 3,000 volumes, one of the largest in the state. The library also subscribes to over 70 magazines and three daily newspapers. The collection is aimed primarily at meeting the community's requirements for pleasure reading and school assignments.
The staff consists of one full-time librarian, one full-time and one part-time library assistant, a children's librarian, and two student pages. The children's librarian, Dale Mellin, is now on duty 14 hours a week and offers: three pre-school story times a week, one toddler story time, and crafts and film programs for both preschool and students ages K-4th grade. The programs for all children have been very popular over the years.
The library offers a meeting room for community groups. A program also exists wherein each first grader in Colts Neck visits the library, obtains a library card, and is provided a tour by the librarian.
A new county library headquarters opened in Manalapan in 1987. It was the largest in the state at the time, offering meeting rooms, a concert hall and extensive research facilities. Expansion plans for the building were announced in early 1996. The system also offers extension services which filled over 80,000 patron requests system-wide in 1993. The circulation system and public catalog are automated and the Manalapan and Shrewsbury libraries are provided with on-line searching capabilities (via DIALOG) and fax machines. Films, both 16 mm and video, are available through the library system, and books on cassette are a popular addition to the collection, as are compact discs.
With respect to children's activities, the county library system offers a large number of programs, including class visits, story times, films, vacation reading club programs, puppet shows, and crafts.
Prior to 1982, Colts Neck was served by the county bookmobile service. The Atlantic Grange sold their building to the Township for use as a library. After it was renovated and furnished, the Colts Neck library opened June 14, 1982 at which time the county bookmobile service was discontinued.
