Kitchener Public Library

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The Kitchener Public Library is the public library system for the city of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. It has a main branch in the downtown core, and four smaller branches throughout the wider community.

It was founded in February 1884 as the Berlin Public Library, which consisted of a reading room within the Town Hall. In 1902 it moved into a purpose-built Carnegie Library, and proceeded to grow. The current downtown building on Queen Street North was opened in 1962, with extensions and renovations made in 1978 and 1994. [1]

At present, the main branch is considered to be too small to meet the overall needs of the community, and the present building is not expandable for structural reasons. A merger was considered with the Waterloo Public Library, but that city's leadership felt there would be too much loss of independence with such a move. A new library building had been considered as the possible centrepiece of a new downtown development on the mostly-vacant Centre Block, but those plans fell through.

[edit] Branches

Branch	Founded	Present building opened	Attached public facility
Main	1884	1962	Standalone
Grand River Stanley Park	1971	2002	Grand River Collegiate Institute
Forest Heights	1976	1976	Forest Heights Community Pool; Forest Heights Collegiate Institute
Pioneer Park	1982	1989	Doon-Pioneer Park Community Centre
Country Hills	2004	2004	St. Mary's High School