• Slider Image

The Gila Valley Library promotes literacy and lifelong learning in keeping with its mission statement to provide excellent interactive children's programming and varied and creative resources for adults that reflect the diversity and interests of this frontier community.

⏰ OPERATING HOURS ⏰
MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY 9 am to 4 pm
SATURDAY 10 am to 2 pm


Classes are FREE however pre-registration helps us plan. Sign up at Library or call Monica.

 

Gila Valley Library Wildflowers and Pollinators Photo Contest

Photo Contest Form

Gila Valley Library is seeking submissions of photographs of Grant County wildflowers and pollinators for our fundraiser calendar.

Photos will be judged for content, creativity, technical skill, and composition; those including native wildflowers and pollinators are preferred. Prizes will be awarded for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and honorable mention winners. Several photos will be used in the 2026 GVL fundraiser calendar.

Deadline for submission of photos and this release form is September 30, 2025. Images must be in color, JPEG and fit the 11” x 8.5” format of the calendar. Limit 4 photos per entrant.

Photographer information:
Name _________________________________________________________________________

Address _______________________________________________________________________

Phone __________________________________ Email ___________________________

Winners will be notified via the contact information provided here. Please indicate preferred contact method.

Email photos and this form to: Monica Rude: desertwoman@gilanet.com. The release form may also be left at the library.

List a title and description for each photo submitted.
1. ____________________________________________________________________

2. ____________________________________________________________________

3. ____________________________________________________________________

4. ____________________________________________________________________

Release
By signing this release, I agree that I am donating the use of my photographs to the Gila Valley Library 2026 fundraiser calendar.
* I am over 18 or under 18 with a parent or guardian signature.
* I am submitting photos taken by me, not digitally altered.
* I agree that the Gila Valley Library retains the right to use the submitted photos in the calendar, advertising, promotion and website.

* Name ­________________________________________________ Date ___________

For more information, contact Monica Rude 575-590-0508

The last day of STEAM Camp was a blast! Thank you to all the kids, parents and interns! We hope to see you all in September when we begin Friday programming. Have a great school year!

                                                                                                                                                                                                               


STEAM Camp Space Week with Oreo Cookie Moon Phases, Ozobot travels the planets, and engineering a lunar lander. Our last camp date is Thursday, July 24.

                                                                             

Thank you Ranger Gabe Medrano and Sharman Apt Russell for the great presentations on animals skulls and tracks at the STEAM Camp on Tuesday. More on animals tomorrow. Come join us, for Creature Features July 17 @9:30.

                                                                                                                          

STEAM Camp was rocking Thursday! Jacob Crumb, Geologist from Freeport McMoRan, taught us about the rock cycle and gave every kid cool rocks and minerals to take home. We observed and tested rocks and minerals, extracted chocolate “ore” from cookie mines, practiced mine reclamation, played games, and dug up fossils. Join us next week for animals.

                                                      

Great day at STEAM camp! We learned about primary and secondary colors, the electromagnetic spectrum, and built kaleidoscopes. Next week we explore Geology. It’s sure to rock!

                                                    

Thanks to the US Dept of Agriculture for teaching us about soil, erosion, and forest fires. STEAM Camp kids turned into engineers to design and build a water filtration device. What a fun day! See you Thursday when we welcome Geologists from Freeport McMoRan for the rock cycle, cookie mining, and a fossil dig.

                           

Check out these free online technology classes on many different subjects from general computer knowledge and cyber safety to lifestyle, Health and Wellness

FREE ONLINE TECHNOLOGY CLASSES

We had a very busy, enjoyable Give Grandly Day Saturday

                                

                         

The Gila Valley Christmas Jamboree was a great success. Thank you to everyone who came by the library to make an ornament for the wishing tree, took photos with Santa and, stayed for the parade. We love our little community. Happy Holidays!

 

                                                                                                                 

GVL Garden Update

         Fruit tree planting crew
The Gila Valley Community Forestry Demonstration Garden was established at the Gila Valley Library in 2016.
Eight Years after the initial planting, the garden now has several mature trees, shrubs, native grasses and wildflowers.  Community volunteers are to be commended for the care and maintenance of this beautiful space.  Over these several years, various techniques are used to conserve water, such as, mulching, swales, water catchment from the roof,  planting under trees, and using drought tolerant plants.  Mulching the entire property with wood chips, straw, biochar, leaves and other plant materials as well as planting cover crops, enhances the soil microbes and helps plants thrive and conserve water.  This garden is the first demonstration site for the application of the New Earth Compost, a microbial soil inoculant, utilizing Johnson-Su Composting Bioreactors filled with food waste and liability biomass (wood chips, and biochar) to create a static, aerobic, biologically diverse and fungal dominant compost that works in partnership with plants to capture carbon in soils, increase soil water holding capacity, fix nitrogen, and improve plant and soil health.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Gila Valley Library, we plan to add more native plants to attract pollinators, bees, butterflies, moths, and other beneficial insects and hummingbirds.  Demonstration gardens will show local homeowners how they can turn their yards into wildlife habitats to attract pollinators.  Signs will help folks learn plant identification.  Ongoing classes will specify how to grow these plants, the value of natives in the landscape, why milkweeds are important, desert gardening techniques, weed management, seed saving, water conservation techniques, composting and more.

GVL Library summer 2023

 

Gila Valley Library
411 Hwy 211
PO Box 439
Gila, New Mexico 88038
Phone: 575-535-4343
NEW email: gilavalleylibrary1@gmail.com

 

 

Search for books, audiobooks, or DVDs by title, author, director, or subject, and manage your account online, such as renewing items you have checked out or reserving items you would like to check out:

Find free online magazines, newspapers, reference books, and journals from the New Mexico State Library at El Portal:

The Gila Valley Library is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, southwest New Mexico. You can help sustain and grow the library at any time by donating here:


Special THANKS to HMS for sharing their land and building!

WE ACHIEVE GREATER HEIGHTS THROUGH SUPPORT FROM GENEROUS FUNDERS AND DONORS LIKE YOU!

MERRITT HELFFERICH REMEMBERED
[August 10, 1935 – May 2, 2019]

Merritt, demonstrating magnetism to STEAM Camp kids in 2017

The MERRITT R. HELFFERICH ENDOWMENT FUND was established by a generous patron for the library’s long-term financial stability. Merritt's dedication to literacy and lifelong learning live on through your support of this fund. To contribute, you may visit the fund site or send a check to the the Gila Valley Library (PO Box 439, Gila, NM 88038), and note that it is for this fund.

MENU