| Surrey Public Library | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1983 |
| Branches | 9 |
| Collection | |
| Items collected | books, e-books, music, cds, periodicals, maps, geneological archives, business directories, local history, |
| Size | 704,000 [1] |
| Access and use | |
| Circulation | 4 million [2] |
| Other information | |
| Budget | CA $11.8 million [3] |
| Director | Beth Barlow [4] |
| Website | www.surreylibraries.ca |
Surrey Public Library is a municipal public library system serving Surrey, British Columbia and the surrounding Lower Mainland.
Contents |
Surrey Public Library has services and programs for patrons of all ages.
Prior to 1983, Surrey was a member of the Fraser Valley Regional Library. In 1982, Surrey held a referendum on the withdrawal from FVRL, which passed. On March 17, 1983, Surrey began operating as an independent municipal library. The Surrey Public Library includes the Newton branch, which was awarded the Governor General's Award for architecture in 1994.[5] The Semiahmoo branch, which opened in 2004, was the first LEED certified public library in Canada.[6]
Surrey provides patrons with books, music CDs, CDROMs, books on tape/CD, databases, videos, DVDs, magazines, reference books, newspapers and e-books. Library material is available in Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Punjabi, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Urdu, and Vietnamese. The database collection include Alldata (mechanical - Guildford only), Novellist, Press Display, and Worldbook online.
The library has nine branches:
ART (Accessing Resources and Technology) is located at Guildford and Semiahmoo Branches. These computer workstations help those with visual impairment, learning, reading or physical disabilities read and listen to books, documents and web pages or use word processing applications.
The Cloverdale Branch of Surrey Public Library, located on the same corner as the Surrey Archives and Surrey Museum, holds the largest collection of Canadian genealogy resources in Western Canada, with over 4000 microfilms and 1300 books. Unique record sets include Métis Scrip, Chinese Head Tax Registers, Li Ra Ma, and the Peter Robinson papers for example.
The publication "Canadian Genealogical Resources: A Guide to the Materials Held at the Cloverdale Library" details the library's microfilm holdings, includes research instruction and can be searched online. Patrons can also access the Ancestry Library Edition database and Heritage Quest at the Cloverdale Branch.
Beyond the extensive holdings, the department offers orientations to the collection once a month and provides a variety of programs on genealogical topics, generally offered from September to May.
As part of its 25th anniversary, Surrey Public Library hosted a writer-in-residence program. The writer-in-residence is playwright and fiction writer Mansel Robinson.
| Year | Award | Giver |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | John Cotton Dana Award | Outstanding Public Relations among Libraries |
| 1994 | Governor General Award for architecture Newton Branch Patkau architects | |
| 1997 | Citation for Citizenship | Citizen and Immigration Canada |
| 2004 | Cultural Diversity Award | Surrey Delta Immigration Services Society |
| 2005 | Honorable Mention | Community Learning - Conference Board of Canada |
| 2006 | Cultural Diversity Award | Surrey Delta Immigration Services Society |
| 2009 | DIVERSEcity Award for Business, Public Institutions | DIVERSEcity Community Resources Society |