Vancouver Public Library
| Vancouver Public Library | |
|---|---|
|
|
| founding | 1869 |
| Duration | 2.67 million media |
| Library type |
Public library , lending library |
| place |
Vancouver , Canada 
|
| ISIL | OCLC-VP @ |
| operator | City of Vancouver |
| management | Constance Barnes, Chair of the Vancouver Public Library Board |
The Vancouver Public Library (VPL) is the third largest system of public libraries in Canada . It is owned by the City of Vancouver and consists of a central library and 21 branches that are evenly distributed across the city. The VPL owns 2.67 million items (1.3 million of which are in the Central Library on West Georgia Street). This includes books, magazines, newspapers, video and audio tapes, DVDs, CD-ROMs, CDs and microfilms. 373,000 registered users borrow around 9 million media annually. In addition, the VPL had a budget of C $ 43,368,609 in 2011 .
Central Library
The Central Library, designed by Moshe Safdie , is located at 350 West Georgia Street, in the eastern part of the central business district, and comprises an entire block of buildings known as Vancouver Library Square . This is bordered by Robson Street, Homer Street, West Georgia Street and Hamilton Street. In the center is a rectangular building with nine floors, in which the bookshelves and the various library services are located. The top two floors are used by the administration of the province of British Columbia and are also to be made available to the library in the near future.
The central part is connected by bridges to a freestanding, elliptical colonnade that surrounds the complex and contains the reading rooms. The external appearance of the building is reminiscent of the Colosseum in Rome . The entire complex also includes a skyscraper, shops, restaurants and an underground parking garage.
The Central Library has appeared in several films and television series, including The 6th Day , Ballistic , The Game , Battlestar Galactica , Smallville, and Fringe - Borderline Cases by the FBI .
history
The first library was the Hastings Library Institute , opened in 1869 , which was available to the workers of the Hastings Mill sawmill . After the city was officially founded in 1886, the collection was transferred to the Vancouver Free Library . The rooms in the YMCA building soon proved to be too small. In 1901 the city council turned to Andrew Carnegie , who was a donor of libraries in many cities at the time, and asked him for a financial contribution. Carnegie agreed and donated $ 50,000, on condition that the city donate the property. In October 1903 the new library building next to the former town hall opened.
The first branches were opened in 1911, but they had to be closed again in 1919 for financial reasons. In 1927 a second attempt followed, this time successful. City Hall was added as an extension to the Carnegie Library in 1929, which shared some of its premises with the Museum of Vancouver . In 1945 the people of Vancouver approved the construction of a new central library in a referendum, and in 1957 the VPL moved into the new building on Burrard Street.
The building on Burrard Street also proved too small after a few years. In November 1990 another referendum approved the construction of a modern new building on West Georgia Street. The city hosted an architecture competition that Moshe Safdie won. His draft was the most radical of all, but it enjoyed the most popular approval. The foundation stone was laid on February 1, 1993, the opening on May 26, 1995. The construction costs amounted to 106.8 million CAD .
Branch offices
The following branches belong to the VPL:
- Britannia (70,000)
- Carnegie (11,000)
- Champlain Heights (51,000)
- Collingwood (29,000)
- Dunbar (75,000)
- Firehall (60,000)
- Fraserview (49,000)
- Hastings (74,000)
- Joe Fortes (80,000)
- Kensington (?)
- Kerrisdale (48,000)
- Kitsilano (?)
- Marpole (60,000)
- Mount Pleasant (200,000)
- Oakridge (82,000)
- Outreach (37,000)
- Renfrew (325,000)
- South hill (?)
- Strathcona (47,000)
- Terry Salman (81,000)
- West Point Gray (59,000)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Vancouver Public Library Collections. (PDF; 364 kB) (No longer available online.) Vancouver Public Library, formerly in the original ; accessed on February 3, 2013 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Anual Report 2011 - Financials. Vancouver Public Library, accessed February 3, 2013 .
