The new facility provides the opportunity to expand and enhance Library services to the City of Hartford and surrounding communities. Your new Library offers:

• New teen area appealing to reading and musical interests, after school and weekend programming, book clubs, and gaming sessions.

• New community room, designed to hold various library programs and community meetings.

• Consolidation of circulation, Interlibrary Loan, cataloging, and processing operations enabling these tasks to be completed away from the primary service desk.

• Expanded adult programming in cooperation with the Friends of the Library including book clubs, literacy projects, computer assistance, Great Books discussions, consumer information programs, and adult/children sessions.

• Expanded Hartford History Room offering genealogical research materials, local history collections, and displays of community interest.

• Upgraded quiet reading area overlooking the Mill Pond, complete with comfortable chairs, magazines, and newspapers.

• Three small study rooms for small group meetings, one-on-one tutoring, and quiet study.

• Nineteen Internet workstations throughout the facility.

• WI-FI capability to enabling laptop owners to use the Library.

• Green design and heating and cooling system making it less costly to operate.

• Design codes that comply with current standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act for entrances, restrooms, and public service stations, including wider aisles and shorter shelves.

• A 24-hour drive through materials pick-up and return.

• Customer service desks to all departments, making assistance accessible.

• Over 100 public parking spaces to increase accessibility to the downtown.

Michael Gelhausen, Library Director 
Diane Hegy, Secretary/Bookkeeper
Kristine Parker, Technical Services/ILL
Lyanne Collins
Nancy Enderle
Kathy Kluge
Mary Kreuser
Joan Russell
Karolyn Sanders
Cheryl Simon
Marcia Wilcox

The Hartford Public Library was founded on August 25, 1904 through the efforts of the Hartford Free Library Association and was housed in two upstairs rooms in the old City Hall.

From 1914 to 1930, the Library was in the "new" Hartford High School - operating jointly as a public and educational library. On March 3, 1925, the City of Hartford assumed control of the operations and funding at the request of the Free Library Association.

In 1931, with the construction of the current City Hall completed, the Library relocated there and remained there until the new library opening. When City Hall was remodeled in 1985, the Library moved to its third floor, 14,500 square foot location with the understanding that this was not a long-term solution. In June of 1985, the Library's collection consisted of 51,000 books and other materials, serving the 7,500 residents of the City of Hartford and the surrounding rural areas.

The Library services over 25,000 people. This increase occurred when county-wide service began in 1987. Current population trends indicate that Hartford's population could rise to 23,000 by 2030, with the total service population exceeding 40,500.

Our collections now include over 130,000 printed volumes, audio-books, compact discs, videos, DVDs, reading and travel kits, and CD-Rom software for computers. The Library participates in a statewide Interlibrary Loan (ILL) network, and as a member of a forty-four library on-line consortium provides direct access to over three million items.

The Hartford History Room consists of an extensive collection of local business records, house and family histories as well as church and cemetery records.

Nineteen Internet work stations are available to the public and were used over 13,000 people in 2011. We expect to exceed 14,000 users during 2012. The number of Library cardholders was 3,134 in 1985 and has jumped to 22,838 through 2011.