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.
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).
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 a system of 17 branches, and is the second most used in Canada (after Toronto Public Library). 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. 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 is the first library in the City of 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 and the reading materials are tailored according to the demographics of the surrounding communities.
Calgary is a city experiencing explosive growth, and plans (currently unfunded) call for at least three new branches in the city’s suburbs. 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 across from Calgary City Hall.
Calgary Public Library Facts:
- Annual circulation (2006): 13,300,000
- 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] Library branches
The library has branches in 17 locations in Calgary:
- W.R. Castell Central Library, 616 Macleod Trail SE, T2G 2M2
- Alexander Calhoun Branch Library, 3223 14 Street, SW, T2T 3V8
- Bowness Branch Library, 7930 Bowness Road NW, T3B OH3
- Country Hills Branch Library, 11950 Country Village Link NE, T3K 6E3
- Crowfoot Branch Library, 8665 Nose Hill Drive, T3G 5T3
- Fish Creek Branch Library, 11161 Bonaventure Drive SE, T2J 6S1
- Forest Lawn Branch Library, 4807 8 Avenue SE, T2A 4M1
- Glenmore Square Branch Library, 7740 18 Street SE
- Louise Riley Branch Library, 1904 14 Avenue NW, T2N 1M5
- Memorial Park Branch Library, 1221 2 Street SW, T2R 0W5
- Nose Hill Branch Library, 1530 Northmount Drive NW, T2L 0G6
- Shaganappi Branch Library, 3415 8 Avenue SW, T3C 0E8
- Shawnessy Branch Library, 333 Shawville Boulevard SE
- Signal Hill Branch Library, 5994 Signal Hill Centre SW, T3H 3P8
- Southwood Branch Library, 924 Southland Drive SW, T2W 0J9
- Thorn-hill Branch Library, 6617 Centre Street N, T2K 4Y5
- Village Square Branch Library, 2623 56 Street NE, T1Y 6E7
