After an eight-month renovation, the Robert Allerton Art Research Library at the Honolulu Academy of Arts has reopened.

Under the direction of head librarian Ron Chapman, the project also saw the reorganization of the facility.

A new library addition is a database of 2,000 digitized images of Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints.

Opened in 1927 with 500 books, the Robert Allerton Art Research Library now has some 45,000 books and periodicals, extensive biographical files on artists of Hawai'i and elsewhere, and auction catalogs.

The nonlending library, open to the public, is a major source of art information — helpful to students and collectors — in the state.

New library hours are Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Saturdays from 12:30 to 4 p.m.

The library is looking for volunteers to work in the new reading room. For information, call volunteer coordinator Vicki Reisner at 532-8737, or the library at 532-8743.