Brampton Library

Brampton Library
File:Brfamptosfa.jpg
Type	system of public libraries in Brampton, Ontario,
Established	1858
Branches	6 branches & 1 interim site
Collection
Items collected	business directories, phone books, maps, government publications, books, periodicals, genealogy, local history,
Other information
Director	Rebecca Raven
Website	Brampton Library

Funded by the City, the Brampton Library is a system of public libraries in Brampton, Ontario, Canada.

In the 2003 Ontario Public Library Week (October 20 to 26), the library was rebranded with a new logo, and a change in name. The system changed from the Brampton Public Library to the simpler and more direct Brampton Library. The shorter name has had mixed reception, with many patrons still referring to it by its old name, out of habit and the lack of need to refer to it differently.

There are currently six permanent locations and one interim site, the Northeast Interim Site, located to relieve the pressure temporarily on the library system created by rapid residential development in the northeast of Brampton.

Rebecca Raven is the Chief Executive Officer of the Brampton Library, a position that replaces that of Executive Director.

Branches

Branches that are currently in operation are named in bold.

Name	Neighbourhood	Address	Opened	Closed	Notes	Image
Chinguacousy	Bramalea	150 Central Park Drive	1972-73		Located inside the Bramalea Civic Centre
Cyril Clark	Heart Lake	20 Loafer's Lake Lane	1985		Opened as Heart Lake branch, it is currently named after the Township of Chinguacousy's last reeve, Cyril Clark.
Four Corners	Downtown	65 Queen Street East			Until 1979, this was known alternatively as the Main Branch and Central Services Branch.
Gore Meadows	Gore Meadows	10150 The Gore Road	2013
Mount Pleasant Village	Mount Pleasant	100 Commuter Dr.	2011-11-25		Replaced the NorthWest Interim Site after several years and is a multi-use facility attached to Mount Pleasant Village School and Community Centre.
Northeast Interim Site	Springdale	55 Mountainash Road, Unit 24		Oct 1, 2016	Located at Springdale Square shopping centre. It was closed based on expected availability of a new near-by branch, which is not yet ready.
South Fletcher's	Fletcher's Creek South	500 Ray Lawson Blvd	1997
Carnegie	Downtown	55 Queen Street East	1907	1974	Funded by Andrew Carnegie, see Carnegie library. Replaced by Four Corners, in the building immediately to the east. Now home to Brampton Concert Band and Jazz Mechanics.	Carnegie Building serving as the Brampton Public Library, 1909. Postcard from the Richard L. Frost collection.
County Court	Fletcher's Creek South	201 County Court Boulevard	1988	1991	Replaced by the Fletcher's Creek branch. Was located in a commercial office building.
Fletcher's Creek	Fletcher's Creek South		1991	1997	Replaced County Court, replaced by South Fletcher's.
Bramalea	Bramalea	East Drive		1972-73	Replaced by Chinguacousy. Was located on East Drive just east of Bramalea, in building today at 106 East Drive.
Northwest Interim	Mount Pleasant	10500 Creditview Road		2011
Northwood Park	Flowertown and Northwood Park	10 Flowertown Avenue
South	Eldomar Heights/Peel Village	160 Main Street South			Located at the Brampton Mall.

Services

• Information and reference services
• Access to full text databases
• Community information
• Internet access
• Reader's advisory services
• Programs for children, youth and adults

History

As early as 1858, a library was founded in the Mechanic's Institute, serving the mere 50 people in what was then classified as Brampton. These 360 volumes, plus a federal grant of $160, were the starting blocks for the first actual public library in Brampton, founded in 1887 in the Golding Building on Queen Street. As printing presses were still relatively expensive to operate, and thus book prices high, the village-owned facility had full written contracts with patrons to check out books. Only the librarian and the library board were allowed to take books off the closely watched shelves.

In 1907, the library successfully received a grant from US steel magnate Andrew Carnegie to build a new library. Carnegie was a self-made millionaire with "very little formal education", and a well known drive to bring "learning to the masses". Records show donations to 1700 libraries, and the hundreds of facilities across the continent still bearing his name are living proof.

Despite being a supporter of culture in general, Carnegie was opposed to the multipurpose facility the village intended to build, as it exceeded his default start-up donation of $10,000. A meeting with the Brampton Board of Trade's R.J. Copeland, and a promise from Brampton itself to up its funding from $1000 to $1250 a year, Carnegie provided another $12,500 for the town's long-time showpiece facility.

In 1946, the Brampton library took on a relatively novel concept for the era, in letting residents under the age of 16 sign out books from the collection.

During the 1960s and 1970s, the system expanded to fit the needs of a growing population. The expansion included the Northwood Park Branch (Flowertown and McLaughlin), South Branch (at Brampton Mall on Main Street at Nanwood), and Heart Lake Branch. The Heart Lake branch would later become known as "Cyril Clark", after a Chinguacousy reeve.

Chinguacousy Branch, the cornerstone of Brampton's Library system pictured before the construction of the nearby Bramalea Transit Terminal

In 1972, developer Bramalea Consolidated Developments Ltd constructed the Civic Centre facility for the town of Bramalea, the cornerstone of which was officially laid as part of the finished building during Brampton's Centennial celebrations in 1973. Along with government offices and a theatre this facility included a large space for a central library branch. When Brampton and Bramalea merged in 1974, their library systems became one. Bramalea's Chinguacousy Branch joined Brampton's Main Branch (which had replaced the Carnegie library with a larger building next door, and which was later renamed to "Four Corners Branch" due to its location near downtown Brampton's Four Corners) and others, becoming the system's resource library. As the reference branch, Chinguacousy was host to an extensive collection of microfilm, local history materials, and genealogy resources. In 2008 the majority of these materials were moved to the Four Corners location in the newly renovated Local History section on the second floor.

A neighbourhood branch was eventually created in a mall at Ray Lawson Blvd. and Hurontario St., and renamed the County Court Branch when it was moved to an office building nearby (later renamed again to Fletcher's Creek Branch). When the South Fletchers Sportsplex was built, Fletcher's Creek moved from private to public property, and was renamed to the South Fletchers Branch.

In 2011, the Brampton Library system opened the new Mount Pleasant branch in the north-west area of the city. This replaced the North-West interim branch which had been located approximately 1.7 kilometres (1.1 miles) north-west of the new regular branch.

In addition to the six regular branches, Brampton Library also operates one interim site, in the north-east region of the city. This houses a very small collection, mostly DVD's and paperbacks, as well as allowing customers a location at which to pick up and return items. A new location at Torbram and Sandlewood, one kilometre north of the current North-East Interim site is planned to replace the interim site in 2015.

The new Gore Meadows branch was built in the north-east of the city on Castlemore Road at The Gore Road and opened in 2013. This new location is part of a city recreation centre located in parkland that is planned to provide multiple services, like of Chinguacousy Park.

Discussions are still on-going regarding replacing the current downtown branch with a modern facility.

List of Teen Services

• Youth Leadership Program
• Teen Library Council
• Animation-Manga Club
• Toastmasters Program
• Babysitting Courses

See also

• Ontario Public Libraries
• Ask Ontario

External links

• Brampton Library