Holidays and Board Meetings for 2011
For the 2011 calendar year, The Free Library of New Hope and Solebury will close for the following holidays:

Saturday, December 31, 2010: New Year's Eve
Sunday, January 1, 2011: New Year’s Day

Monday, February 21, 2011: President's Day
Monday, May 30, 2011: Memorial Day
Monday, July 4, 2011: Independence Day
Monday, September 5, 2011: Labor Day
Thursday, November 24, 2011: Thanksgiving Day
Saturday, December 24, 2011: Christmas Eve
Saturday, December 31, 2011: New Year's Eve

(Since Christmas Day and New Year’s Day fall on Sunday this year and we are closed on Sundays, there will be no special holiday closure for those days)

The Board of Trustees meets the third Wednesday of each month at 5:30 pm at the Library. All are welcome to attend.

Welcome to the Free Library of New Hope and Solebury. We are a small non-profit library dedicated to delivering exceptional, personal service to our friends and neighbors.

We hope you'll find the information and links you need here at the Virtual Library, but we also look forward to seeing you in our real, live, historical physical location at 93 West Ferry Street in New Hope.

We are very proud of our more than 110 year history; of being the first free library in Bucks County; of having settled in a beautiful historic building. We are proud of the spirit of the volunteers who keep this library open, and of our association with the extraordinary communities of New Hope and Solebury. We delight in our continuing relationships with local artists, from George Nakashima to the sculptors featured each year by New Hope Arts, Inc.

Please come pay a visit so we can show off!

The Library is open Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 10:00 AM until 7:00 PM, and Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10:00 AM until 5:00 PM. We may close for inclement weather whenever the local school district is also closed for that reason.

The mission of the Free Library of New Hope and Solebury is:

• To provide all people in our community with a universally accessible, diverse and inclusive collection.
• To create a forum for members of the community to discuss concerns and issues of the day and to experience cultural events.
• To bring generations together to help each other and to support learning.
• To foster a friendly, intergenerational, multi-cultural, tolerant and inclusive community and to cultivate an environment where the talents of everyone are recognized.
• To work together with other organizations in the area to create an enriched cultural experience for all.

Library goals are:

Members of the growing New Hope-Solebury community will have a safe, welcoming, universally accessible, friendly library with ample space for a suitable collection, sufficient parking and appropriate rooms for study, tutoring, group meetings, exhibits and special programs.

Members of the New Hope-Solebury community will have access to the information they need to participate fully as informed citizens.

Members of the New Hope-Solebury community will have opportunities to celebrate our unique character and to foster a friendly, intergenerational, multi-cultural, tolerant and inclusive community.

Preschool children in the New Hope-Solebury community will have programs and materials to enable them to enter school ready to learn to read, write and learn.

Members of the New Hope-Solebury community will have the services and support they need to express themselves creatively through original writing and storytelling via available media.

Members of the New Hope-Solebury community will have a chance to continue learning throughout their lives and will find entertainment and materials that stimulate their imaginations.

To view our Policies, Click Here.

Membership is free to all residents of New Hope and Solebury, and to those within the Bucks County Library system (though if you lose your card, we will have to charge a $3 fee to replace it). Non-residents are also welcome to join, but must pay a $20 annual fee.

Your New Hope-Solebury library card is accepted at all Bucks County public libraries. Material borrowed from any library in the system may be returned to any library in the system. In other words, you may borrow a book at Doylestown and return it here in New Hope.

When residents sign up for a card we must see identification and proof of residency. Please ask us if you are unsure what will be needed; we'd like to save you a trip if we can!

Our collection includes books, pamphlets, daily papers, magazines, DVD's, videotapes, and audiobooks and music on tape and CD.

We offer fiction, non-fiction, and reference sections. We are very proud to offer a special collection dedicated to Fine Arts and Performing Arts, as well a special collection featuring books of local interest.

We have a pleasant Children's Library on our lower level, furnished with a great variety of children's materials. We ask that you accompany your young children in the Library, please. We want to be sure that they have a safe and comfortable experience with us.

If you can't find what you need in our collection, we offer Inter-Branch Hold (from libraries within our system) and Inter-Library Loan (from outside libraries) services. If it's out there, we'll try to help you find it.

We regret that we generally cannot take IBH and ILL requests over the phone. Please understand that we want to help you, but that our desk is often managed by a single volunteer who may not be able to fulfill your request. You can place holds on most print and audiovisual materials online from home with your library card number and PIN.

We have three patron computers offering Internet Access for up to 2 hours per patron per day. A fourth patron computer is available for 15 minute sessions, if it is not in use as a catalog computer.

If all computers are busy, and patrons are waiting, we reserve the right to ask a patron who has been on a computer for more than 30 minutes to end his or her session so someone who is waiting may have a turn.

The library also offers wireless access for patrons with their own wireless-ready computers. A library card and PIN are required for sign-on. If you don't have one, please ask us for assistance. If you do bring your own computer, please charge it ahead of time. We are in an old historic building, and our electric circuits are not designed to support multiple wireless users.

> New books and children's holiday books are generally available for a two week loan.
> Rental books are available for one week at a cost of $1.00.
> DVD's and videos are available for one week.
> Reference materials may only be borrowed by special permission.
> All other items are generally available for three weeks.

Most items can be renewed, unless another patron has requested them. You may renew items online through the My Account feature of the County Library website, as long as the item is renewable, your account is in good standing, and you have your library card number and PIN. We cannot give out PIN's over the phone, but we will look them up for you in the Library.

You may check out up to 5 audio books, up to 5 videos or DVD's, and up to 5 new books. Other items, which are in less demand, may have higher borrowing limits. If you have a special need for extra items, please ask us about it and we will try to accommodate your request.

Late fees are 20 cents per day for most items, but $1.00 per day for videos and DVD's.

To many patrons, our library looks just like a county branch library. We aren't. We are a not-for-profit public service facility asociated with the Bucks County Library System as a Community Public Library.

What does that mean? Our association with the county system helps us provide you with excellent service and access to the collections of larger libraries, but we aren't a branch. We're a small non-profit run mostly by volunteers.

We are partially funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Solebury Township, and New Hope Borough, but in fact less than half our operating income comes from these sources. We rely heavily on special fundraising programs and on the generosity of our loyal patrons (thank you!).

If you can, please consider donating to the Library. It will greatly help us to serve you better, to remain open forty-eight hours each week, and to provide the collection, services, and programs our extraordinary community deserves.

The Free Library of New Hope and Solebury has only three paid staff members. The Library is primarily maintained by a volunteer Board of Trustees and a loyal corps of volunteers who work at the Circulation Desk, manage book sales, help keep our books in good order, and create and support our excellent Children's Programs.

If you have time to spare, love books, and would enjoy working with a great group of people, please call or email us for more information.

And a great big THANK YOU to all our current volunteers!