Overview and Services
The Lane Memorial Library offers a full range of services to meet the informational, educational, cultural, and recreational needs of the Hampton community within a renovated and expanded historic building that dates back to 1910. The Library is a vital and integral part of the community, providing the public with an accessible 21st century facility. Our friendly and professional staff is eager to serve you. Welcome to the Lane Memorial Library! Our library and website provide our patrons with books, DVDs, audio CDs, Large Print, audiobooks and magazines for browsing and checkout, downloadable e-books and audiobooks, a range of Reference and Research databases, an extensive Children’s collection, public-use computers, a blu-ray theater and art gallery, meeting rooms, a comprehensive genealogy center, and one of the largest on-line local history collections in the state of New Hampshire. If we don’t have what you are looking for, we can provide books and materials from libraries across the nation. Please browse our website and call us at (603) 926-3368 for more information, or head over to our Contact page to find a specific department.
Mission Statement
The Lane Memorial Library will be vital to life and learning. We will connect our community by offering a place to assemble, collaborate, and engage in insightful study.
History
The first Lane Library, The Hampton Public Library, came into existence on April 2, 1881 when the privately funded Hampton Library Association agreed to donate its library to the town as a free public library. The town agreed to establish and maintain the library, which at the time consisted of approximately 900 volumes. Simeon Albert Shaw, librarian for the Hampton Library Association, became the town’s first public librarian. The library was housed in a room of the town hall during the first 29 years of its existence. In time, the need for more space became critical, and a Hampton citizen stepped forward and offered to build a library as a memorial to his father Joshua A. Lane, who had just died. This man, Howard Garland Lane, was a wealthy merchant and landowner in town, and held various local offices throughout his lifetime. Designed by George W. Griffin, architect, and constructed in 1910 at a cost of $5336 by Kelly Bros., this building was dedicated in a ceremony held at the Congregational Church on December 14th. Read more about our history here.