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The Vineyard Haven Public Library’s new cedar-shingled entrance and covered porch, with ribbons from the July 2026 reopening still on the posts.
All six town libraries on Martha's Vineyard, checked October 2026: hours and addresses, how visitors get a library card, free Wi-Fi, the concerts, art shows and programs, the Libraries of Things with beach chairs and stargazing kits, museum and beach parking passes, and a short history of each building.
Every town on Martha’s Vineyard has its own public library, and all six are open to visitors. They are some of the best free places on the island: quiet rooms, free Wi-Fi in most of them, restrooms, and a calendar of concerts, talks, art shows and children’s programs that runs all year. A Sunday jazz set in West Tisbury or a summer concert on the lawn in Edgartown costs nothing. Here is what each one offers, checked against the libraries’ own pages on October 9, 2026.
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All six belong to CLAMS, the Cape and Islands library network, which holds more than 1.6 million items you can borrow and return at any member library. The island’s libraries went fine-free on January 1, 2020.
Yes, at every one of them. A card is free for Massachusetts residents and for Martha’s Vineyard property owners. Visitors from out of state can get a temporary card, and the rules differ a little by town:
You do not need a card to walk in, sit down, read, use the Wi-Fi or go to a program.
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The Derby, the beaches that open to everyone and what closes when, date by date. Free with the island letter, together with our other three island guides.
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Nearly everything below is free and open to the public.
Our island events calendar lists the library concerts and shows with their dates and times, and the rainy day guide has the rest of the indoor island.
Inside the Vineyard Haven library after the renovation: new oak floors and the stacks back in place.
Most of the island’s libraries lend far more than books. Each keeps a “Library of Things,” and some of it is made for a vacation:
Every town library lends a free pass to the Martha’s Vineyard Museum for two adults and up to four children, and most offer discounts to Boston museums. The Trustees also place free day-parking passes for Long Point and Wasque with island libraries; Edgartown and West Tisbury list them on their own pass pages, so ask at the desk. Edgartown does not reserve passes but will hold one for an hour.
The library at 200 Main Street reopened on July 21, 2026 after a renovation that added a new program room and turned the old basement program space into a section for teenagers; for more than a year before that it worked out of a storefront on Church Street. There is no parking lot, but the library counts more than 80 street spaces nearby, and it is a short walk from the ferry and the bus hub. The Wi-Fi network is called “Library Managed” and needs no password, indoors and in the courtyard. Guests can use the express computers for 30 minutes, printing is 25 cents a page, and the reference room holds the Vineyard Gazette on microfilm back to 1846. 508-696-4210, vhlibrary.org.
The library started in 1883 under the Rural Improvement Association of Cottage City and moved several times before its current building opened in November 2005, the first one built as the town’s library. It is the easiest one to reach: parking is free around the clock in the lot shared with Town Hall, and the Route 9 bus goes right past. Inside are free Wi-Fi, ten public computers upstairs, study rooms in two-hour blocks, an elevator to each floor and a STEM lab with 3D printers, laser cutters and sewing machines (a signed agreement is required). The first ten printed pages are free, then 25 cents a page. Storytime for ages 1½ to 5 is on Wednesdays at 10:15. The library notes that some maps place it in Vineyard Haven; it is on School Street in Oak Bluffs. 508-693-9433, oakbluffslibrary.org.
Edgartown’s first library was a Carnegie building on North Water Street, paid for in 1904 with $4,000 from Andrew Carnegie and $1,000 from Caroline F. Warren, who also gave the land; that building is now looked after by the Vineyard Trust. The present library on West Tisbury Road opened on March 21, 2016, with more than 15,000 square feet and a program room for 100 people. Look for the marine mural in the children’s room by Margot Datz. The Wi-Fi reaches the grounds 24 hours a day, there are four public computers for one-hour sessions, printing is 25 cents a page and scanning is free, and second-floor study rooms can be booked by phone for two hours. 508-627-4221, edgartownlibrary.org.
Across State Road from Alley’s, West Tisbury’s library is the up-island crossroads: a renovated and expanded building that opened in March 2014, with a community room, a children’s room and restrooms on both floors. It is the only island library open on Sunday afternoons, from Labor Day to Memorial Day. Copies are 10 cents in black and white and 25 cents in color, faxes and scans are free, and the library is also a passport acceptance office with a notary. Beyond Second Sunday Jazz and the monthly art shows, the children’s room runs something most days, and in 2026 the library holds a free Halloween party on October 31 from 2 to 4 PM. 508-693-3366, westtisburylibrary.org.
The Chilmark Free Public Library opened on August 15, 1891, and the town’s own history says it appears to have been the first public library on Martha’s Vineyard. Since 1956 it has lived in a house built in 1790 for Captain William Tilton, grown by a 1963 wing and a 2003 addition with a meeting room, a youth area and public computers. Lucy Vincent, whose name is on the beach, was its librarian until the end of 1962. Today it has a two-person study pod you can book for up to two hours, a Martha’s Vineyard Room, an outdoor patio, monthly art shows and one of the island’s most varied Libraries of Things. It closes on local, state and federal holidays and runs half days before Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. 508-645-3360, [email protected].
The smallest of the six sits in the Red Schoolhouse, a one-room school built before 1844 and moved to the town center about thirty years later, now part of a historic district on the National Register. The library was founded in 1901 as the Gay Head Public Library and took the town’s name in 1998; the open-book sign out front was given by the watercolorist Alko Hydeman in 1999. It keeps a Native American collection built between 1984 and 1998, lends Wi-Fi hotspots and museum passes, and runs drop-in crafts on Saturdays and an after-school club on Tuesdays. It is closed on Cranberry Day, Tuesday, October 13, 2026. 508-645-2314, aquinnahlibrary.org.
The Martha’s Vineyard Museum on Lagoon Pond Road in Vineyard Haven has a research library on its second floor, open Tuesday to Friday during museum hours except federal holidays. You do not need to pay museum admission to use it, but it has a staff of one, so an appointment through [email protected] is the safe way to go.
Benches under the new porch of the Vineyard Haven library, a good place to wait out a shower.
Yes. All six town libraries are open to anyone during their hours, and you do not need a card to come in, read, use the Wi-Fi or go to a program.
Yes. Out-of-state visitors can get a temporary card, usually for a one-time $10. In Oak Bluffs the out-of-state card is $10 a year, and in Vineyard Haven a returning visitor renews free within three years.
West Tisbury, from noon to 4 PM, between Labor Day and Memorial Day. The others are closed on Sundays.
Edgartown, Oak Bluffs, Vineyard Haven and West Tisbury all list free Wi-Fi, and Edgartown’s reaches the grounds 24 hours a day. Aquinnah lends Wi-Fi hotspots. Our cell service and Wi-Fi guide covers the rest of the island.
Almost all of them, including the concerts, talks and art shows. A few classes need you to sign up ahead because space is limited.
Yes. Every town library lends a free Martha’s Vineyard Museum pass, and the Oak Bluffs Library of Things has beach chairs, a beach wagon and a sunshade. Fishing rods and lawn games there are put away for the off-season from October.
Hours, card rules, services and programs come from each library’s own website (and for Chilmark, the town’s library pages), read on October 9, 2026, with the CLAMS network site for the network figures and the Vineyard Gazette for the 2026 Vineyard Haven renovation. Hours change around holidays and with the seasons, so a quick look at the library’s site or a phone call before a special trip is a good idea.
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