A.K. Smiley Public Library

Serving the City of Redlands, California since 1894

Established in 1894, A.K. Smiley Public Library has served generations of patrons in the City of Redlands and beyond. The only “admission fee” is curiosity. Lifelong learning is at the center of activity in the beautiful, historic building and attractive grounds!

News + Events

Preserve Your Home Movies

Smiley Library Preserving ‘Life in Motion’ From Home Movies

During the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s, Redlanders documented life with 8mm, 16mm and Super 8 home movies. Thanks to a donation to the A.K. Smiley Public Library, the Heritage Room is able to digitize home movies using cutting edge technology to preserve them as part of the City’s historical record.

“The Smiley Library’s Home Movie Preservation Project saves life in motion in Redlands,” said library archivist and head of special collections Nathan Gonzales. The sophisticated equipment, operated by Heritage Room staff, reads each frame of 8mm, 16mm or Super 8 home movies, preserving it as digital files. After receiving the donation, Gonzales said Heritage Room staff went back to home movies that had been donated to the library, finally discovering the rich record of parades, civic life, development and day-to-day life preserved there.

Now the library is seeking other home movies of life in Redlands “hiding in a cupboard, dresser, closet or garage” to digitize and preserve for their collection. Original home movies can be returned after they are digitized, or donated to the Heritage Room.

Anyone interested may call the Heritage Room at (909) 798-7632 or email heritage@akspl.org. Learn more at https://youtu.be/5ZiNetfENuU.

New York Times Online

The California State Library is pleased to offer the New York Times online to California public libraries! This offer features direct access to NYTimes.com from 1851 to right now.

Your A.K. Smiley library card allows you 24 hour complimentary, unlimited access to the digital edition of The New York Times. To get started, follow these simple steps:

  • Within the library, register or log in at nytimes.com/register. You can now enjoy unlimited access to NYTimes.com on any device during your library visit.
  • For remote users, click HERE and fill out the required fields on the following page. Use code 15e1b6b5205c1abe if the code is not already filled in.
  • Enjoy! You now have unlimited access to the digital edition of The New York Times.