Whitby Public Library

Last updated

Whitby Public Library
Whitby central library.jpg
Whitby Public Library
Type Public Library system
Whitby, Ontario, Canada
Established1850
Branches3
Collection
Size300,000 items
Access and use
Circulation1.4 million items
Other information
Budget$5.7 million (2016)
DirectorRhonda Jessup
Employees80
Website Whitby Public Library website

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. [1]

Contents

History

Whitby Carnegie Library. 132 Dundas St. West. Whitby carnegie library.jpg
Whitby Carnegie Library.
132 Dundas St. West.

The roots of the Whitby Public Library can be traced to a circulating collection started by Whitby tailor Hugh Fraser (1815–1890) in 1850. Fraser later became librarian when a local Mechanics' Institute was formed in 1852, offering reading material to institute members. [2] Support for a public library grew, and in 1911, Whitby town leaders appointed a library board and applied for a grant from American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Construction of the Carnegie library began in early 1913 and the building was officially opened the following year. The new building housed 5,000 books and contained separate reading areas for men, women and children. Cards cost five cents and required the signature of a "responsible person" who could identify the borrower.

The Carnegie Building served the community for many years. However, by the 1970s, it was too small to serve the growing town. In 1973, the library was moved to the lower floor of the Whitby municipal building on Dundas Street. In 1978, a new Town Hall opened and the library occupied the whole of the former municipal building. The Carnegie library still stands at the corner of Dundas and Byron Streets. [3]

The town of Whitby continued to grow, and the former municipal building became increasingly inadequate. Plans to build a new central library as part of a civic recreation centre in the late 1980s did not come to fruition, although a new neighbourhood branch was opened in a shopping plaza on Rossland Road East in 1989 as a "temporary measure" until the new branch could be built. [4] Instead, plans were made to keep the main branch in Whitby's downtown core on the property of the existing library. The initiative was approved and funded by the Town and additional funding obtained from the provincial and federal governments through a SuperBuild grant. Architects Shore Tilbe Irwin + Partners were hired in 2002 and construction began the following year. The old library remained open as the new one was built and was demolished after its completion.

The new central library opened in 2005 and has won a number of design awards, including the Ontario Library Association's Building Award and an interior design award from the Association of Registered Interior Designers of Ontario. The 54,000-square-foot (5,000 m2) building is anchored by a civic square with a reflecting pool. In addition to traditional library services, the facility also offers wireless internet access, fireplace-equipped lounges and an onsite café.

Merger with Whitby Township Library

Library services in the Township of Whitby date back to 1897, when a subscription-based "association library" was formed in Brooklin. In 1958, township leaders decided to establish a public library supported by property taxes and a new building was completed in 1961. [5] In 1968, the Town and Township of Whitby amalgamated to form a newly expanded Town of Whitby and the Township library in Brooklin became a branch of the Whitby library system.

The Brooklin branch building served the growing community until 2009. In the summer of that year, construction began on a new 10,000-square-foot (930 m2) branch as part of a new community centre on the same site. The branch occupied temporary quarters on Winchester Road during construction. [6] The new Brooklin Community Centre & Library opened in November 2010. [7]

Whitby Archives

The Whitby Archives were established by the Whitby Historical Society in 1968 at the historic Whitby Centennial Building. Local historian Brian Winter was named Archivist. In 2005, the Archives were moved to their current location on the second floor of the new Central Library. In 2013, Sarah Ferencz took over the role of Archivist. [8] The Archives houses a collection of several thousand items, including over 5,000 photographs, documentation on approximately 3,000 Whitby families and information on an estimated 400 buildings. There are also special collections on a number of well-known Whitby landmarks, including Camp X, Trafalgar Castle School and the Whitby Psychiatric Hospital. Over two thousand historic photos have been posted online as part of a digitization initiative supported by a private donation.

See also

Sources

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whitby, Ontario</span> Town in Ontario, Canada

Whitby is a town in Durham Region. Whitby is located in Southern Ontario east of Ajax and west of Oshawa, on the north shore of Lake Ontario and is home to the headquarters of Durham Region. It had a population of 138,501 at the 2021 census. It is approximately 45 km (28 mi) east of Toronto, and it is known as a commuter suburb in the Durham Region, east of the Greater Toronto Area. While the southern portion of Whitby is predominantly urban and an economic hub, the northern part of the municipality is more rural and includes the communities of Ashburn, Brooklin, Myrtle, Myrtle Station, and Macedonian Village.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regional Municipality of Durham</span> Regional municipality in Ontario, Canada

The Regional Municipality of Durham, informally referred to as Durham Region, is a regional municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada. Located east of Toronto and the Regional Municipality of York, Durham forms the east-end of the Greater Toronto Area and part of the Golden Horseshoe region. It has an area of approximately 2,500 km2 (970 sq mi). The regional government is headquartered in Whitby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">County of Brant</span> City in Ontario, Canada

The County of Brant is a single-tier municipality in the Canadian province of Ontario. Although it retains the word "county" in its name, the municipality is a single-tier municipal government and has no upper tier. The County of Brant has service offices in Burford, Paris, Oakland, Onondaga and St. George. The largest population centre is Paris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ottawa Public Library</span>

The Ottawa Public Library is the library system of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The library was founded in 1906 with a donation from the Carnegie Foundation.

Ontario County was the name of two historic counties in the Canadian province of Ontario. Both counties were located in approximately the same area and existed on-and-off between 1792 and 1974. Their primary modern successor is the Regional Municipality of Durham, though certain parts of them were transferred to other surrounding regions.

The King Township Public Library is a public library system that serves King Township, Ontario in Canada. It consists of four branches located in King City, Nobleton, Schomberg, and Ansnorveldt.

Cannington is a community in Brock Township, Durham Region, Ontario, Canada. The town is on the Beaver River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brooklin, Ontario</span> Unincorporated community in Ontario, Canada

Brooklin is a community in the town of Whitby, Ontario, Canada, north of central Whitby, at the south junction of Ontario Highways 12 and 7. While Brooklin proper is confined to a specific area, people in the surrounding area largely identify their location as "Brooklin" rather than "Whitby".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whitby Psychiatric Hospital</span> Hospital in Ontario, Canada

Whitby Psychiatric Hospital, also known as Whitby Psych, Ontario Hospital for the Insane, Ontario Hospital, Whitby, or OHW, is a mental health facility located in Whitby, Ontario. A modern hospital replaced the cottage campus in 1996. The hospital later renamed to Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences, which operates on the same site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Orleans Public Library</span> Public library system in New Orleans, Louisiana

The New Orleans Public Library (NOPL) is the public library of the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Succeeding earlier libraries in the city, it opened in 1897. Three branches were added by 1908. Carnegie library branches were added in 1911 and 1915. By 2005 a dozen branches were open. The main library is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

King's Highway 12, commonly referred to as Highway 12 and historically known as the Whitby and Sturgeon Bay Road, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The highway connects the eastern end of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) with Kawartha Lakes, Orillia and Midland before ending at Highway 93. It forms the Central Ontario Route of the Trans-Canada Highway system from north of Sunderland to Coldwater. Highway 12 connects several small towns along its 146 km (91 mi) route, and bypasses a short distance from many others. It is signed as a north–south route between Whitby and Orillia, and as an east–west route from there to Midland. The rural portions of the highway feature a posted speed limit of 80 km/h (50 mph), often dropping to 50 km/h (31 mph) through built-up areas. The entire route is patrolled by the Ontario Provincial Police.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whitby Township</span>

Whitby Township is a geographic township and former municipality in what was Ontario County, Ontario, Canada. It is now part of the Town of Whitby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hamilton Public Library (Ontario)</span>

The Hamilton Public Library (HPL) is the public library system of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashburn, Ontario</span> Unincorporated community in Ontario, Canada

Ashburn is a hamlet in the town of Whitby, Durham Region, Ontario, Canada, located approximately 15 kilometres north of the town core, and centred on the intersection of Ashburn Road and Myrtle Road. It is a rural settlement area on the Oak Ridges Moraine, situated on the headwaters of the Lynde Creek watershed and part of Ontario's protected Golden Horseshoe Greenbelt.

Myrtle is a community in the Town of Whitby, Durham Region, Ontario, Canada.

The Whitchurch–Stouffville Public Library is the public library of Whitchurch–Stouffville, Ontario, Canada, and is located in Stouffville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeffersonville Township Public Library</span>

The Jeffersonville Township Public Library is a public library system in Jeffersonville, Indiana, United States comprising two locations: the main library at 211 East Court Avenue in Jeffersonville and the Clarksville Branch at 1312 Eastern Boulevard in Clarksville, Indiana. The rest of Clark County, Indiana is served by the Charlestown-Clark County Public Library system, with which the Jeffersonville library has a reciprocal borrowing agreement.

Windsor Public Library is a public library system in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It has ten branches and serves the city of Windsor through Children's, Young Adult, and Adult programs, services and collections. The central branch is located at the Paul Martin Sr. Building on Ouellette Avenue in downtown Windsor.

The County of Brant Public Library is the public library system serving the communities in the County of Brant, Ontario, Canada. It has five branches located in Paris, Burford, Scotland, St. George, and Glen Morris.

References

  1. ↑ Annual report of Whitby Public Library, 2016
  2. ↑ LeClair, Kevin "the Institute of Mechanics"
  3. ↑ Winter, Brian (1999), Pages 76-78
  4. ↑ "New, temporary library branch opens Sept. 19." Whitby Free Press. 13 Sept. 1989.
  5. ↑ "A History of Brooklin Public Library. Whitby Free Press. 30 June 1971.
  6. ↑ "Brooklin community centre and library move forward." Whitby This Week. 5 Nov. 2006.
  7. ↑ "Brooklin community turns a new page with facility opening." Whitby This Week. 17 Nov. 2010
  8. ↑ durhamregionareaarchivesgroup (April 9, 2014). "Meet the Archivist – Sarah Ferencz, Whitby Archives". Durham Region Area Archives Group. Retrieved March 17, 2021.

43°52′41″N78°56′45″W / 43.878152°N 78.945887°W / 43.878152; -78.945887

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.