Calgary Public Library
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The Calgary Public Library Board of Trustees was established in 1908, and the first public library opened in 1912, thanks in part to the generosity of American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie funded $80,000 of the $100,000 cost of Calgary’s Central Library, pressuring City Hall to fund the rest.[citation needed]
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).[citation needed]
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. When a new central library was constructed in the early 1960s, the original branch was renamed the Memorial Park branch, and still operates today.
The Calgary Public Library has grown to include 17 locations, and is the second most used system in Canada (after Toronto Public Library).[citation needed] 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. The funding situation would be even worse if the Library was not one of the few in North America that charges a card registration fee (waived for those in financial need), and if not for the fundraising efforts of the Calgary Public Library Foundation.
In December 2003, the Crowfoot Library opened on the Crowfoot Regional Recreation Centre's land in Northwest Calgary. This innovative Library is the first building to be designed and constructed under the City of Calgary's new Sustainable Policy. Designed by Cohos Evamy, the branch is the first operational building in Calgary to meet the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards.[citation needed] The total construction cost of this library was $6,827,000, with funding by the City of Calgary and the Infrastructure Canada Alberta Program. It was the first library in Calgary to have the innovative Self Check Out machines and to have adult and children's DVDs. This library serves over 100,000 residents living in the NW area.[citation needed]
Calgary is a city experiencing explosive growth, and plans call for at least three new branches in the city’s suburbs.[citation needed] The first, in the city's northeast, is slated to open in late 2011. The Calgary Public Library is also in the formulative stages of planning to replace (likely next decade) the aging and architecturally undistinguished W.R. Castell Central Library, which is located across from Calgary City Hall.[citation needed]
Calgary Public Library Facts:[citation needed]
- Annual circulation (2008): 15,400,000
- 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] References
[edit] External links
- Calgary Public Library.com
- Canadian Library Association - A Pocket History of Calgary
- Memorial Park Library
- Calgary Landmark Library - site for proposed new Central Library project
