Welcome to the Medicine Hat Public Library
The Library is currently closed to the public but reading is not cancelled! Access your library online and via our no-contact pick-up service.
If you love the Library and want to help us succeed, please consider making a donation. As a non-profit organization, we rely heavily upon local, and to a lesser degree, on provincial government funding, but we don’t always receive the funds we need to meet basic operating costs.
Your donations are essential. We use your generous donations to buy new material to improve the collections you enjoy, to help pay for programs for children, teens, and seniors, and to complete renovation and upgrading projects.
Our vision for the future includes some lofty goals that we need your help to accomplish. Please take a look at the donation opportunities below and contact us if you're interested in helping us meet some of these goals.
Every donation we receive brings us closer to meeting our goals of expanding our program and service offerings. Your donation, big or small, will make a BIG impact on our patrons.
Some of the smaller projects we have our sights set on include:
If you want to consider a bigger project, something with greater name recognition - take a look at the opportunities listed further down in this menu.
The Medicine Hat Public Library is so much more than just books! We offer movies, music, magazines, newspapers, online learning classes, home energy kits, coding kits, etc.
Help us grow our collection by sponsoring something you’re passionate about providing equal access to, like: Makerspace equipment such as robotics kits, video game programming, virtual reality, 3D printers, media production workstations; or, sports equipment, tools, games, ties for job interviews, etc.
With an average of more than 260,000 yearly visits, our library is a very well-used community space. In order to stay relevant to our diverse range of users, we have undergone space-use surveys to understand how our space is being utilized.
If you would like to make a very visible contribution to our library, opportunities exist for medium-sized renovation projects which will help us to format our space to better meet the needs of our community.
Our Children’s Library has largely remained unchanged since the 90’s. We have big visions of how we can move this space into a 21st century library, capable of meeting the needs of 21st century children.
We want children to experiment, create, imagine, and dream in our space. We want to build the track that will set them on a path for future success.
Help us remove the one remaining barrier to free access: the $5 charge for adult library cards.
There is currently a movement in Alberta libraries to drop cardholder fees. In fact, the majority of Albertans can access their local library for free. We would like to follow suit but need to recover the revenue that our annual membership fees bring in. For significant returns, you can sponsor our library cards so we can remove fees and truly offer barrier-free access to everyone in our community.
The lack of parking at our current location is the most commonly cited reason why people didn’t attend a program they were interested in or why they turned around and went home after planning to visit.
The lack of parking makes it especially difficult for those with mobility issues or families with little ones in strollers, carriers, etc.
Your return on investment for the donation of book lockers will include the following:
We are very happy to receive donations of popular books, music or DVDs in good condition. The best of the donated material is added to our collection and the Friends of the Medicine Hat Public Library sells the rest to raise money for library materials and programming. Good quality used books, music, or DVDs can be dropped off at one of the service desks or through the after-hours book drop.
Please note: We do not accept donations of textbooks or encyclopedias. Please do not donate books that have yellowed pages, water damage, noxious smells, mouse droppings (yeah... that's happened), or other such conditions that make them unusable. Thank you for your cooperation.
If you would like to make a general donation to our library rather than a project-specific one, we encourage you to click on the donate button or fill out the embedded form below. You will received a charitable receipt from Canadahelps.org on our behalf. If you would like to donate directly to your Library by cheque, cash, or credit, please drop-in during office hours and we will be happy to provide a charitable receipt for all donations $20 and greater. Please make cheques out to "The City of Medicine Hat Library Board."
Thank you for thinking of your library!