Kitchener Public Library | |
---|---|
Location | 85 Queen Street North, Kitchener, Ontario N2H 2H1 |
Established | 1884 |
Branches | 5 |
Collection | |
Items collected | business directories, phone books, maps, government publications, books, periodicals, genealogy, local history, |
Size | 580,000 books 5,000 audiovisuals 107,000 square feet |
Access and use | |
Circulation | 2,000,000 |
Population served | 200,000 1,000,000 (annual visits) 600,000 (annual web visits) |
Other information | |
Budget | $9.2m |
Director | Mary Chevreau |
Website | www |
The Kitchener Public Library is the public library system for the city of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. It consists of five libraries; a large Central Library in the downtown core, with four Community Libraries spread out to provide services for the neighbourhoods of Kitchener.
The main branch of the Kitchener Public Library opened at 85 Queen Street in May 1962. Its origins date back to the Mechanics Institute first established in 1854, that grew within the first year to nearly 1,000 books in German and English. [1] It was a Carnegie library. [2] The collection, maintained by membership fees and private subscriptions, was destroyed by fire in the 1860s and was replaced in 1871 by a library located on the first floor of the town hall. [1] The Berlin Public Library was officially formed in 1884 following the passing of the Free Libraries Act two years prior. [1]
The present library replaced the Berlin Public Library which originally opened in 1884 with a collection of 2,855 volumes on the first floor of the town hall. The Berlin Public Library was moved when it became a Carnegie library, opening on January 8, 1904, which was located at Queen and Weber. [3] [1] Mabel Dunham served as Chief Librarian at the new location from 1908 to 1944. [4] [5] The Carnegie library was demolished following the opening of the Queen Street location in 1962. [6]
In 2010 the main branch underwent a $40 million 25,000-square-foot expansion. Completed in 2013, the project increased floor space by 30% (from around 82,000 square feet to 107,000 square feet), and made the entire building wheelchair accessible. [7] Designed by Levitt Goodman Architects, the building was awarded a 2015 Library Architectural and Design Transformation award by the Ontario Library Association. [8]
In 2015 the Kitchener Public Library became the first library in Canada to lend out internet Hotspots. [9]
The Kitchener Public Library system consists of a Central Library in the downtown core, and four Community Library locations throughout the city. The Central Library was completely renovated and expanded in 2014.
Branch | Founded | Present building opened | Attached public facility |
---|---|---|---|
Central | 1884 | 1962 (expansion opened 2014) | 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 |
Kitchener is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario, about 100 km (62 mi) west of Toronto. It is one of three cities that make up the Regional Municipality of Waterloo and is the regional seat. Kitchener was known as Berlin until a 1916 referendum changed its name. The city covers an area of 136.86 km2, and had a population of 256,885 at the time of the 2021 Canadian census.
Cambridge is a city in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, located at the confluence of the Grand and Speed rivers. The city had a population of 138,479 as of the 2021 census. Along with Kitchener and Waterloo, Cambridge is one of the three core cities of Canada's tenth-largest metropolitan area.
Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning is a Canadian public college located in Kitchener, Ontario. Established in 1967, Conestoga has multiple campuses and training centres across Ontario.
The Township of Wellesley is the rural, north-western township of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. It encompasses 277.79 km2 (107.26 sq mi) and had a population of 11,260 in the Canada 2016 Census.
St. Jerome's University, commonly shortened to St. Jerome's or SJU, is a public Roman Catholic university in Waterloo, Ontario. It is federated with the University of Waterloo. St. Jerome's, within the University of Waterloo, combines academics and a residence. Students may both reside at and take classes through St. Jerome's, live at SJU in residence but take classes elsewhere, or live in another residence but take classes at St. Jerome's.
Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate and Vocational School, commonly called Kitchener Collegiate Institute or KCI, is a public secondary school in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. It is a member of the Waterloo Region District School Board. The school dates from 1855, making it one of the oldest high schools in Kitchener and Waterloo. Its sports teams are known as the Raiders.
The Waterloo Region Record is the daily newspaper covering Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada, including the cities of Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge, as well as the surrounding area. Since December 1998, the Record has been published by Metroland Media Group, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. On May 26, 2020, Torstar, agreed to be acquired by NordStar Capital, a private investment firm; the deal was expected to close by year end.
Kitchener City Hall is the seat of municipal government of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. It has gone through many iterations through the 20th century, culminating in the current building, which opened in 1993.
The Grand River Railway was an interurban electric railway in what is now the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, in Southwestern Ontario, Canada.
The Waterloo Memorial Arena was an arena located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It was built in 1947 and primarily used by the Waterloo Siskins junior B hockey team, although it was also once briefly home to the Waterloo Hurricanes major junior team in the Ontario Hockey League.
Doon Heritage Village, located at the Ken Seiling Waterloo Region Museum, is a picturesque 60 acre living history village that shows visitors what life was like in the Waterloo Region in the year 1914. It is located in the former Doon village, now part of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, next to Homer Watson Park.
The Whitby Public Library is a public library that serves the town of Whitby, Ontario, Canada, with three branches. The library is governed through a ten-person library board appointed by the town, and operated by a staff of more than 80 full and part-time employees. As of 2016, there were over 1.4 million items circulated and the system had a CA$5,700,000 budget.
Hespeler is a neighbourhood and former town within Cambridge, Ontario, located along the Speed River in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. In 1973, Hespeler, Preston, Galt, and the hamlet of Blair were amalgamated to form the City of Cambridge. The first mayor of Cambridge was Claudette Millar.
The Charles Street Transit Terminal is a former bus terminal in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. It is the former downtown hub for local Grand River Transit (GRT) bus services for Kitchener and Waterloo, although the terminal now sits vacant and mostly abandoned.
Centre In The Square is a live theatre and performing arts centre located on Queen Street in downtown Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
Jacob Yost Shantz was a Mennonite farmer, businessman, and industrialist from Ontario, Canada. He played a significant role in the urban development of Berlin, Ontario, where he held a succession of civic roles over a period of almost three decades, culminating in a term as mayor in 1882. Over the span of his life, Berlin was transformed from a rural agricultural settlement known as Ebytown into a bustling manufacturing centre; this was a change mirrored by Shantz, who began his adult life as a farmer and sawmiller, and ended it as a prominent local industrialist.
George Randall was an American-born business owner and politician in Ontario, Canada. He served as reeve of Waterloo from 1870 to 1872 and as mayor in 1878.
Market Square Shopping Centre is a mall located in the downtown core of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, whose tenancy skews to services.
Bertha Mabel "Mabel" Dunham (1881–1957) was a Canadian librarian and author. She was the first trained librarian in the province of Ontario to hold the position of chief librarian and wrote several historical fiction books for both children and adults. Dunham worked at the Kitchener Public Library for 36 years, in addition to teaching library science courses and playing an active role within local history and professional communities.
The Waterloo Junction Railway (WJR) is a short line railway in the Region of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It runs northward from the former Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) North Main Line in downtown Kitchener, through Waterloo and St. Jacobs before terminating in Elmira. It is currently owned by the City of Waterloo and operated by CN as the Waterloo Spur. The Waterloo Central Railway runs tourist trains on the line, and the Ion rapid transit runs on the route for a short distance.