Funded by the City, the Brampton Library is a system of public libraries

Public library

A public library is a library that is accessible by the public and is generally funded from public sources and operated by civil servants. There are five fundamental characteristics shared by public libraries...

 in Brampton, Ontario

Brampton, Ontario

Brampton is the third-largest city in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada and the seat of Peel Region. As of the 2006 census, Brampton's population stood at 433,806, making it the 11th largest city in Canada. It is also one of Canada's fastest growing municipalities, with an average...

, Canada.

In the 2003 Ontario Public Library Week (October 20 to 26), the library was rebranded with a new logo, and a change in name. The system changed from the Brampton Public Library to the simpler and more direct Brampton Library. The shorter name has had mixed reception, with many patrons still referring to it by its old name, out of habit and the lack of need to refer to it differently.

There are currently two interim sites, the Northeast and Northwest Interim Sites, located to relieve the pressure temporarily on the library system created by rapid residential development in the northeast and northwest of Brampton.

Recently the library added a service called Chapter-A-Day to its offerings. The service allows library patrons to receive a chapter from their favourite genre of book, each weekday.

Cathy Matyas is the Chief Executive Officer of the Brampton Library, a position that replaces that of Executive Director.

History

As early as 1858, a library was founded in the Mechanic's Institute, serving the mere 50 people in what was then classified as Brampton. These 360 volumes, plus a federal grant of $160, were the starting blocks for the first actual public library in Brampton, founded in 1887 in the Golding Building on Queen Street. As printing presses were still relatively expensive to operate, and thus book prices high, the village-owned facility had full written contracts with patrons to check out books. Only the librarian and the library board were able to take books off the closely watched shelves.

In 1907, the library successfully received a grant from steel magnate Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...

 to build a new library. Carnegie was a self-made millionaire with "very little formal education", and a well known drive to bring "learning to the masses". Records show donations to 1700 libraries, and the hundreds of facilities across the continent still bearing his name are living proof.

Despite being a supporter of culture in general, Carnegie was opposed to the multipurpose facility the village intended to build, as it exceeded his default start-up donation of $10,000. A meeting with the Brampton Board of Trade

Brampton Board of Trade

The Brampton Board of Trade is a business organization first founded in Brampton, Ontario in 1887. Currently representing the broad interests of 1100+ members, the Brampton Board of Trade serves its members through government lobbying, member discounts, and networking opportunities.-History:* 1887...

's R.J. Copeland, and a promise from Brampton itself to up its funding from $1000 to $1250 a year, Carnegie provided another $12,500 for the town's long-time showpiece facility.

In 1946, the Brampton library took on a relatively novel concept for the era, in letting residents under the age of 16 sign out books from the collection.

During the 1960s and 1970s, the system expanded to fit the needs of a growing population. The expansion included the Northwood Park Branch (Flowertown and McLaughlin), South Branch (at Brampton Mall on Main Street), and Heart Lake Branch. The Heart Lake branch would later become known as "Cyril Clark", after a Chinguacousy reeve.

-In 1972, Bramalea Corporation created their Civic Centre facility. Along with corporations, this facility included a large space for a central library branch. When Brampton and Bramalea merged in 1974, their library systems became one. Bramalea's Chinguacousy Branch joined Brampton's Main Branch (which had replaced the Carnegie library with a larger building next door, and which was later renamed to "Four Corners Branch" due to its location near downtown Brampton's Four Corners) and others, becoming the system's resource library. As the reference branch, Chinguacousy was host to an extensive collection of microfilm, local history materials, and genealogy resources. In 2008 the majority of these materials were moved to the Four Corners location in the newly renovated Local History section on the second floor.

A Neighbourhood Branch was eventually created in a mall at Ray Lawson Blvd. and Hurontario St., and renamed the County Court Branch when it was moved to an office building nearby (later renamed again to Fletcher's Creek Branch). When the South Fletchers Sportsplex was built, Fletcher's Creek moved from private to public property, renaming itself the South Fletchers Branch.

In addition to the four branches, Brampton Library also operates two interim sites, one each in the NorthEast and the NorthWest of the city. These house very small collections, mostly dvds and paperbacks, as well as allow customers a location at which to pick up items.

Earlier this year it was announced that a new 30 000 sq ft. branch would be built in the North-east of the city on Castlemore at The Gore Road. This new location will be part of a City Recreation Centre located in a parkland that will resemble that of Chinguacousy Park.

Chinguacousy Library Gallery

Notable artists who have displayed at the gallery include Blake Debassige (1973), David Blackwood

David Blackwood

David Lloyd Blackwood, CM, O.Ont is a Canadian artist.Blackwood is known chiefly for his intaglio prints, often depicting dramatic historical scenes of Newfoundland outport life and industry, such as shipwrecks, seal hunting, iceberg encounters, and resettlement...

 (1979), Fredeic Steiger (1978), Naoko Matsubana, Stephen Hogbin, and Rosemary Kilbourn

Rosemary Kilbourn

Printmaker Rosemary Kilbourn Kilbourn studied at Toronto's Ontario College of Art, then the Slade School of Fine Art in London, England. Upon returning to Ontario, she was commissioned to do a mural for the new dining hall at University of Western Ontario. Along with commissioned portraits, her...

, Viktor Tinkl (1985), Stephanie Rayner (1986), and Carl Skelton (1989).

The Brampton Arts Council

Brampton Arts Council

The Brampton Arts Council is a charitable, multi-arts umbrella organization dedicated to the promotion and development of the arts in the city of Brampton in Ontario, Canada. It represents numerous artists and arts groups, the Brampton Arts Council encourages and recognizes excellence in the arts...

 held a juried art show in 1985, which was adopted the next year onwards by newly formed Visual Arts Brampton

Visual Arts Brampton

Visual Arts Brampton was formed in 1986 to organize the arts community, providing workshops, and exhibits, among other things.The president and founding member of this non-profit community art group is artist Keith Moreau....

.

Curator Shirley Morriss retired in 1991, during a gallery renovation.

List of Teen Services

• Youth Leadership Program
• Teen Library Council
• Animation-Manga Club
• Toastmasters Program
• Babysitting Courses

External links

• Brampton Library