About the Library – Forbes Library Skip to Content Forbes Library stands on Nonotuck land. We also acknowledge our neighboring Indigenous nations: the Nipmuc and the Wampanoag to the East, the Mohegan and Pequot to the South, the Mohican to the West, and the Abenaki to the North. We pay our respects to indigenous Elders, past and present, of these communities and any others who may be here today. This is and always will be indigenous land. We’re grateful to the scholarship of historian Lisa Brooks as well as Bixie Eutsler and Ian Miller upon whose research this acknowledgment draws. Forbes Library, the public library for Northampton, Massachusetts, provides a wide range of information, materials and services to all of the people of Northampton and Massachusetts.  The library’s magnificent building offers a friendly, welcoming physical environment which encourages the civic, intellectual, and cultural pursuits of the public. Forbes serves as a community meeting place in which curiosity, free inquiry, and lifelong learning are supported and nurtured. The library is open 56 hours per week, and many resources are available online 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The Forbes collections are large and varied including not only popular fiction and non-fiction, large arts and music and children’s departments, and an impressive art gallery, but also an extensive local history and genealogy collection for Hampshire County as well as the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum. Forbes also offers Northampton an array of programming and reference services for both children and adults, ranging from author readings, to music and dance demonstrations, dramatic readings and performances, to writing workshops, book and poetry discussion groups, internet training workshops, knitting, chess, and storytime. Forbes Library is incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and is governed by an elected Board of Trustees. It is funded by a combination of City appropriation, endowments, and other gifts and grants. Forbes Library is a member of the Massachusetts Library System and the CW MARS network of libraries in Central and Western Massachusetts. Other Pages in About The Library 125th Anniversary Annual Reports Contact Directions and Parking Floor Plans Forbes Library Timeline Forbes Library Weather Station Jobs at Forbes Library Library Building and Architecture Library History Library Hours Library News Mission, Vision, and Values Policies Racial Justice Statement Strategic Plan 2019-2023 Strategic Plan 2025-2027 Trustees Videos about Forbes Library