Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
The library experienced some early growing pains. In 1905, a dispute arose between the Trustees of HPL and the Trustees of the Industrial School as to who had the right to use a room in the basement - it was labeled as a classroom, but the school hadn't needed it so the library was using it as storage. Now the school had need of the room, and the issue made its way to chancery court. (The Industrial School received use of the basement classroom, but in the end, the room would become the hub of library programming in the 21st century after some post-Sandy renovations.)
Nevertheless, the library's growth as a community space and source of information showed no signs of slowing. In his annual report for 1909, Thomas Hatfield noted that 4,107 books were added to the collection total, with 227 of them being in German. 2,066 books were removed due to wear and tear or because they went missing, leaving a net gain of 1,940 volumes for the year. This brought the total number of books up from 36,056 to 37,996.
(An interesting note: five of those removed books are listed as 'Destroyed by Board of Health,' likely indicating that they came into contact with individuals with infectious diseases. Today, we simply quarantine and sterilize materials as they return to us during the pandemic.)
Some things have, of course, stayed the same, albeit in different forms. A list of employees shows their position titles and salaries, although the salaries have certainly increased since the 1940s, and Nina Hatfield filed away a complaint about the books being dusty that today would have likely been submitted via email or through our chat service, Tawk.to. The Board of Trustees emerged in their modern form in the 1950s and have continued to serve the library to this day. In 1996, a survey was done of the building to examine work that needed to be done to bring it in line with ALA requirements; in 2003, a newspaper article noted the renovations that added the elevator. The library has always been adapting to accommodate every patron to the best of its ability.
In 1990 and 1991, Hudson County decided to look towards the future and created a time capsule to be opened in 2040. Each Hudson County library received a photo of the capsule's location at the Jersey City Courthouse and a letter listing the items inside. For Hoboken Public Library's 160th anniversary in 2040, we'll get to see what's inside for ourselves and once again reflect on the past whilst continuing into the future to provide services, programming, and a safe space for the Hoboken community.