Portsmouth Public Library is the public library of

Portsmouth, New Hampshire Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 census it had a population of 21,956. A historic seaport and popular summer tourist destination on the Piscataqua River bordering the state of Maine, Portsmou ...

. Established in 1896, the library's mission is to provide popular media materials to the public as well as to supply information and access to reference works. It also does community outreach, attempting to provide services and material to foster an appreciation for reading and learning in youth as well as offering activities engineered to appeal to older demographics. It is located at 175 Parrott Avenue.

Services

The library is open 7 days a week, from 9–9 Monday through Thursday, 9-5:30 Friday, 9-5 on Saturday, and 1–5 on Sunday (the library is not open on Sunday during the summer months). It hosts computer stations with a variety of applications and library databases, as well as internet access. The building and its immediate grounds provide wireless access as well. It also provides printing and copying services. The library makes available special passes for free or reduced-price admission to a variety of regional resources such as Museums and Art Galleries. The library, which is handicapped-accessible, contains three larger meeting rooms available to the public as well as three smaller study/conference rooms on the premises. It has seating areas scattered throughout. The library includes a café.

Facilities

When the library was first established in 1896, it was located in the old Portsmouth Academy building at 8 Islington Street. In 1954 this building was joined to the adjacent Benedict House. This facility housed the library until 2006, when it occupied its present facility. The new library, an $8 million construction project has

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...

(LEED) certification from the

U.S. Green Building Council The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), co-founded by Mike Italiano, David Gottfried and Rick Fedrizzi in 1993, is a private 501(c)3, membership-based non-profit organization that promotes sustainability in building design, construction, and op ...

. It is the first municipal building in New Hampshire and among the first public buildings in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

so certified. According to the Portsmouth city website, the library scored "high marks in the areas of energy conservation, recycling, building materials selection, and daylight and views".

Special Collections room

The library's Special Collections room focuses on

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

and

secondary source In Scholarly method, scholarship, a secondary sourcePrimary, secondary and tertiary ...

reference materials related to Portsmouth, but also includes material on Rockingham County,

Strafford County Strafford County is a county in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. As of the 2020 census, the population was 130,889. Its county seat is Dover. Strafford County was one of the five original counties identified for New Hampshire in 1769. It was n ...

and, in

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

, York County. Among the collections are such documents as

vital record Vital records are records of life events kept under governmental authority, including birth certificates, marriage licenses (or marriage certificates), separation agreements, divorce certificates or divorce party and death certificates. In some ...

s, maps and historical newspapers.. The library also includes several unique collections, including: *Henry Clay Barnabee Collection: Material belonging to or related to actor and singer Henry Clay Barnabee (1833–1917) *

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Records: Documents of historical interest compiled by the Portsmouth War Records Committee during World War II *Art Collections: Including but not limited to

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

s by Sarah Haven Foster (1827–1900), drawings by Helen Pearson (1871–1949), works by Susan Ricker Knox (~1875–1959) and paintings by

Russell Cheney Russell Cheney (October 16, 1881 – July 12, 1945) was an American Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and New England regionalist painter. Early life and education The youngest of eleven children, Cheney was born in Manchester, Connecticut, to ...

(1881–1945)

References

{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Portsmouth, New Hampshire Public libraries in New Hampshire 1896 establishments in New Hampshire Libraries in Rockingham County, New Hampshire Tourist attractions in Portsmouth, New Hampshire Library buildings completed in 2008