Organized March 7, 1935 by the Hennessey chapter of the American Association of University Women, the Hennessey Public Library has had strong community support through the dust of the Depression and the boom and bust of Oil. Located in the 1928 High School building on Main, the library serves 1,922 patrons with a collection of 27,195 items including books, movies, audio, and puzzles and games. The
360 seat auditorium is used for both library and community programs and houses the Hennessey Hometown Hootenanny, produced the 2nd Saturday of the month from January-April. Speakers and presenters enjoy the jewel box stage and the library's summer reading program utilizes the space for stories and activities. The Brick, the library's wifi hospitality center and book store, is the location of receptions, book signings, parties, and concessions for programming. Picnic tables provide seating for patrons who bring a sack lunch and their laptops for a quiet noon. Students mix their own cocoa, tea, or coffee after school and enjoy popcorn from the microwave in an area where laughter is welcome and seldom shushed. The Sam and Burla Snyder Memorial History Center located in the north wing of the library features a collection of artifacts, letters, pictures, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, maps and other information about the '89er families of North Central Oklahoma. Authors and researchers use the Heritage Collection of representative titles from each decade since 1890 for changing social perspectives through the century. Fax, copy, and scanning services facilitate business patrons from Wichita to Dallas, a service area linked by Highway 81, the original North American Meridian Highway built in Oklahoma along the Old Chisholm Trail. The library maintains a book drop book swap in Dover, OK, just 10 minutes south, and provides large print titles to the local care center, motel, and homebound patrons. The Hennessey Public Library serves as reading library, community center, informational source, and living room to the residents of Kingfisher County and friends from as far north as Enid and as far south as Kingfisher. Y'all come!
