Calgary Public Library
The Calgary Public Library is a distributed library system featuring 17 branch locations including the Central Library. It is the second most used system in Canada (after Toronto Public Library).[1] This is despite the fact that Calgary is only Canada’s fifth largest city, and the fact that the Calgary Public Library is only 21st in per capita funding in the country, receiving as little as half the money of other Canadian public libraries.
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[edit] History
The Calgary Public Library Board of Trustees was established on May 18, 1908. R. B. Bennett, who would later serve as Prime Minister of Canada, was among the five people appointed to the board.[2] The first public library opened on January 2, 1912, thanks in part to the generosity of American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.[3] Carnegie funded $80,000 of the $100,000 cost of Calgary’s Central Library, (now renamed the Memorial Park Branch), pressuring City Hall to fund the rest.[4]
The building was the first purpose-built public library in Alberta. It was designed by Boston architects McLean & Wright, and built out of local Paskapoo Sandstone (a soft stone that today presents a substantial preservation challenge). This library branch is a copy of a library in Attleboro, Massachusetts.
In 1929 the formal Victorian-style park surrounding the Central Library was dedicated to the honour of those who had died in the Great War. During construction of the original building, the Calgary Library Board sought out a librarian to oversee the opening of its new library. In January 1911, Alexander Calhoun, a thirty-one-year-old graduate of Queens University, was appointed Calgary's Librarian. Calhoun served as the head of the Calgary Public Library until his retirement in 1945.[5]
When a new downtown central library was constructed in the early 1960s, the original branch was renamed the Memorial Park branch, and still operates today. An addition to the 1960s Central Library was built in 1974, doubling the size of the building.[6] Today, the current Central Library building is considered too small to meet the needs of Calgary's population, and lacks the infrastructure to support new technology. Preliminary planning and public consultation for a new central library have been completed, but funding for the project, expected to be in the hundreds-of-millions of dollars, has yet to be identified as of June 2010.[citation needed]
The 17 Branches are:
W.R. Castell Central Library, Alexander Calhoun Library, Bowness Library, Country Hills Library, Crowfoot Library, Fish Creek Library, Forrest Lawn Library, Glenmore Square Library, Louise Riley Library, Memorial Park Library, Nose Hill Library, Shaganappi Library, Shawnessy Library, Signal Hill Library, Southwood Library, Thornhill Library, Village Square Library.
[edit] New branch
The Calgary Public Library is currently constructing its 18th branch in the city's NE. The Saddletowne branch will form part of the Genesis Centre for Community Wellness, and is expected to open in the fall of 2011.
[edit] Statistics
Calgary Public Library Facts (2009):[1]
- Annual circulation: 16,012,748
- Number of items in collection: 2,332,581
- Total number of books to choose from: 1,861,712
- Total number of music CDs to choose from: 222,586
- Total number of DVDs to choose from: 60,913
- Percentage of households that utilize the Calgary Public Library: 72%
- In-person customer visits: 5.6 million annually
[edit] Logo
The Library's logo is a stylized book viewed on end, but also represents people, the Calgary Tower, and a gateway or keyhole to information and ideas.
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Calgary Public Library Annual Report 2009". http://blog.calgarypubliclibrary.com/blogs/about_cpl/AnnualReport2009_WEB.pdf. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
- ^ Gorosh,E. Calgary's "Temple of Knowledge": A History of the Public Library. 1975 Century Calgary Publications. p.5.
- ^ "Carnegie Library, Calgary, Alberta.". Community Heritage and Family History Digital Library. Calgary: Calgary Public Library. 2002-06-04. http://cdm280501.cdmhost.com/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/p280501coll15&CISOPTR=1733&CISOBOX=1&REC=1. Retrieved 2010-07-12.
- ^ Gorosh, E. Calgary's 'Temple of Knowledge'. Calgary, Alberta: Century Calgary Publications, 1975. p. 6 http://www.ourfutureourpast.ca/loc_hist/page.aspx?id=498191
- ^ Nicholson, Barbara and Donna Lohnes: Alexander Calhoun: The Cornerstone of Calgary's "Temple of Knowledge"
Citymakers: Calgarians after the Frontier. Max Foran, Shellagh Jameson (ed.). The Historical Society of Alberta, Chinook Country Chapter, 1987. p.152-153 - ^ Gorosh, E. Calgary's 'Temple of Knowledge'. Calgary, Alberta: Century Calgary Publications, 1975. p.106 http://www.ourfutureourpast.ca/loc_hist/page.aspx?id=498191
