About the Library

Location & Hours

We are located at 901 North Main Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues on the west side of Main Street.

Monday

10:00 am – 8:00 pm

Tuesday

10:00 am – 8:00 pm

Wednesday

10:00 am – 8:00 pm

Thursday

10:00 am – 8:00 pm

Friday

10:00 am – 6:00 pm

Saturday

10:00 am – 6:00 pm

Sunday

Closed

Employment Opportunities

Our Mission

Hutchinson Public Library’s mission is to inspire learning, cultivate growth, share knowledge, and strengthen our community.  

We envision a community in which everyone has a greater sense of self-worth.

Our Service Values

Library Directory

Library Policies

The Hutchinson Public Library has adopted such policies as are needed to guide daily operations of the library. HPL staff members are empowered to interpret and apply library policy to fit the needs of the situation, within the limits of common sense and safety of staff and patrons alike.

The following is a partial list of library policies most commonly used. This is by no means a comprehensive list of all library policy.

• General Patron Policy
  • Part 1 – Mission / Statement of Values / Statement of Ethics; Confidentiality; Library Bill of Rights; Freedom to Read and View Statements
  • Part 2 – Library Card Policy; Lending Policy
  • Part 3 – Statement of Content Strategy, Content Development Policy
  • Part 4 – Library Code of Conduct; Unattended Children Policy
  • Part 5 – Bylaws of the Board of Trustees

Library Board

The Hutchinson Public Library operates under the authority of K.S.A. 12-1215. This statute and subsequent statutes give the City of Hutchinson an uncommon advantage in that the city does not need to support its public library financially. The HPL Board sets a modest property tax mill levy each year to generate funds to operate the facility.

The Hutchinson Public Library Board of Directors is a seven-member board appointed by the Mayor of the City of Hutchinson. Terms are for a period of four years. Members may serve two four-year terms. If two consecutive terms are completed, the board member must leave the Library Board for a minimum of two years before being eligible to serve again. Board members must live within the city limits of Hutchinson.

The current members are:

Nan Hawver – Chairman
Amanda Smith – Vice Chairman
Jocelyn Woodson – Treasurer
Mary Evans
Marty Fee
Susan Richardson
Jeff Roberson

Gregg Wamsley – Secretary
Mayor of Hutchinson – ex officio

The Board of Directors of the Hutchinson Public Library meets on the third Tuesday of every month at 12 noon. HPL board meetings are open to the public.

Bylaws of the Hutchinson Public Library Board

Agendas

Supporting documents

Minutes

Public Comment

Library Budget

2024 Budget

Detailed budget information is available at the Hutchinson Public Library.

HPL 2024 Budget

Library History

The Hutchinson Public Library, established in 1901, serves the City of Hutchinson and the surrounding towns in Reno County and beyond.  

115 Years at a Glance

Early Library History to 1938

Hutchinson Builds Modern Library
Article scanned from the periodical archives.  Ask a Reference staff member about using the original.  Copyright (c) 1949 Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.  Used with permission.

Library Open House Dedication 1951

Eighteen Months After
Article scanned from the periodical archives.  Ask a Reference staff member about using the original.  Copyright (c) 1952 Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.  Used with permission.

Ida Day Holzapfel

Ida Day Holzapfel

1888 – Ida Miranda Day was born on April 20 in Colony, KS.

1916 – Ida Day was hired at Hutchinson Public Library, with a salary of $75 per month and two weeks paid vacation.  Until she left in 1926 to attend the University of Kansas, her work included developing a complete catalog & classification system, initiating reference help, mobilizing books for WWI soldiers, starting outreach to shut ins, and introducing Sunday hours. 

1946 – Returning to Hutchinson Public Library as Ida Day Holzapfel, she oversaw the library move from the Carnegie building to the present location at 901 N. Main in 1951. 

1953 – Ida resigned from Hutchinson Public Library.

The Ghost of HPL

The October 31, 1975, issue of The Hutchinson News included a story of library workers who reported seeing and hearing a ghost in the library.  Supposedly, it was the ghost of Ida Day Holzapfel.  Ida Day was described as totally dedicated to her job.  Her dedication frequently made her difficult to work with, especially if fellow employees did not demonstrate the same dedication to the library that she did.  

Ida Day was considered a proper woman, who had tea with employees promptly at 3 p.m. every afternoon.  She resigned in 1953 and took a position as a reference librarian for Tulare County in Visalia, California.  She never filled that position.  She was killed in an auto accident on her first day of the job.

On one occasion, library employees Angeline Welch and Rose Hale were working in the basement.  Hale went upstairs and when she returned, she heard Welch talking to someone.  Welch denied she had said a word, but Hale heard footsteps leaving.

Hale said the next day she stopped below the stairs and saw a lady standing there.  Hale did not know the woman’s name, but when she later described the woman to another library employee, Hale was told she had just described Ida Day.  Since that time, other employees claimed to have heard footsteps in the basement, and it became a shared joke that whenever anything was misplaced or missing, Ida Day took it.

The feeling that Ida Day returned to watch over the library, and sometimes rebelled when she thought it was not being run correctly, was reinforced by the local paper.  In the News story, published when Ida Day resigned to take the job in California, the article stated, “She plans to retain ownership of her home, and will eventually return to Hutchinson….”