Lawdy, we've used HPL since I was a twinkle in my Mother's eye and it was located on Fountain…read moreCircle. Then, they had framed artwork available for checkout and Mom kept those in full rotation at home - pretty cool! I participated in Daughters of the Revolution flag speech competitions in elementary school which were held at the library. It was always a thrill when the bookmobile would park up the street at John's Big Brothers! Yes, I was a serious book nerd, especially as a child. My family purchased numerous memorial materials for departed friends and loved ones and have donated items to HPL consistently over the years. Dewey Decimal System anyone? :)
I can't find the date this library was built; however, it's been a while.
Before moving out of Madison county, I used the library a lot. I loved the online renewal process and enjoyed their CDs, DVDs, books (of course) and many purchases from the Friends of the Library bookstore (the volunteers there are sooooooo sweet and helpful!).
Glancing at their policies, who knew they had a darkroom available for use in 4 hour increments?
I've also enjoyed several of the smallish art displays they had inside (not the window displays, which are nice) but a true small artist's exhibit
The staff have always been helpful, and their computers do the trick now that the card catalogs are long gone.
I live in an adjacent county now and I work in HSV (and own property in Huntsville), and here's the rub: when I last checked because I do not reside in Huntsville proper an HPL card was $50.00/year. S e r i o u s l y. I think that is steep and ridiculous, especially when I own property in HSV!
I also have to ding them on the tiny parking spaces and the sketchiness of those who hang out in the parking lot.
If you can get past those dings, you will find a vast array of books, sources for geneological research (this section is the Heritage Collection, I believe it is located on the 3rd floor - hard left as you exit the stairs) and an obituary index, local history, additional digital resources such as Rosetta Stone to learn languages, a great selection of current magazines to peruse and CDs galore ranging from Taylor Swift to the Boston Symphony. They have a microfilm/microfiche section that "includes an almost complete run of The Huntsville Times from 1928 - 2015, along with many early Huntsville papers, including The Huntsville Democrat, Southern Advocate, and the Mercury papers." I recall they had decades of Huntsville phone books (a throw back to back when that was a thing) and (I could be wrong about this) church membership directories. Their children's section is fairly expansive too and often had children's artwork on display. Oh, and they do have an after hours drop box. They have ~ 11 branches in Madison county and do a great job of sharing materials, if another branch has what you are searching for, within a few days they will have that item at a branch convenient to your home or work.
Reading their COVID policies, it sounds like they are doing a great job with that!
Do "check out" the library - "create |explore | connect!"