Ottawa Public Library
Encyclopedia
The Ottawa Public Library (OPL) is the library
system of Ottawa
, Ontario
, Canada
and is the largest bilingual library (English and French) in North America. The library was founded in 1906 with a donation from the Carnegie Foundation
.
Prior to the twentieth century, Ottawa had a few reading rooms in hotel lobbies, and also some small fee-based libraries for working men such as the Bytown Mechanics' Institute
, but no truly free place in which anyone could read. The city's active Local Council of Women took up the cause of a free library for all. They announced, just before the election of 1896, that the mansion of George Perley
, a local lumber baron, was donated in his will as a home for the library. However, the city voted down the motion to build a library, as well as another motion to build a firehall; the city just didn't have any money to spare for "luxuries".
Only in 1901, when letters were mailed to Andrew Carnegie
. Carnegie replied that he would offer $100,000 to the city to build the library if they provided a site and a pledge of $7,500 a year to maintain it. They eventually agreed in January 1903, and within a few years the library was built and open to the public.
The day after its official opening, in 1906, the original Carnegie library
opened several hours later than expected, because the mass of people who had come to the opening day left the entire library in complete disarray, and had walked off with many items.
The Main Library is located in downtown Ottawa at the corner of Metcalfe Street and Laurier Avenue West, at the same spot as the original Carnegie library, although nothing remains of the original building but a stained glass window. Several of the Corinthian columns from the old Carnegie library survive in the Rockeries in Rockcliffe Park, a rock garden maintained by the National Capital Commission
. The library now has thirty-three branches spread throughout urban and rural Ottawa.
Before the City of Ottawa's amalgamation
in 2001, which resulted in the merging of eleven separate municipal library systems, the Ottawa Public Library itself only had eight libraries, including Sunnyside
, Rideau
, and Rosemount
. Today, the library is divided into district branches Nepean
Centrepointe
, Cumberland
and Greenboro,community branches such as Sunnyside, Ruth E. Dickinson and Carlingwood and several rural branches.
Patrons throughout the new city have greatly benefited from the 2001 merger as they can now easily order almost items from another branch, and return books to any branch in the city. Ordering items via the library website for pickup at a local branch has been very popular, with over 5 million visitors to the website in 2007. The new system is very centralized, which has meant a loss of decision-making power in many ways, including the choice of books for purchase and the old, local ways of running the smaller libraries. Patrons can however suggest items for the library to purchase.
The current City Librarian of OPL is Barbara Clubb, who was also president of the Canadian Library Association
in 2005. The OPL is governed by a board of fourteen part-time members appointed by the City of Ottawa, six city councillors and eight members of the public. The Library is funded mainly by the city through local tax revenues. Some revenue also comes from the province, and traditional library sources of fees, fines, and fundraising.
The library system has 2.3 million items, 91.7% percent of which are books. The library also has a large audio-visual collection including DVD
s, CDs, VHS
tapes and downloadable books and music. Since Ottawa has a significant francophone population, a large portion of the collection is in French
, with some branches such as Vanier
working almost exclusively in French. Smaller collections offer a wide array of other languages, notably Chinese
, Hindi
, and Arabic
. According to the latest Ontario library statistics, only the Toronto Public Library
has larger holdings. The library hosts a full range of programming for both adults and children, with children's programming being extremely popular. There are also 359 public internet stations and 79 electronic databases.
The Library's two bookmobile
s, which operated out of the Sunnyside branch for almost 50 years, stop at regularly scheduled places throughout the city in an effort to reach areas without library branches. Many of these neighborhoods are poorer, more remote, or simply too far from a branch. During a funding crisis in 2004, the older bookmobile was nearly decommissioned, but it was kept in service with a second, new bookmobile added in 2005. The Bookmobile headquarters was moved to the new Greenboro District Branch in June 2006.
The large new Greenboro District Library, built in the city's rapidly growing South end, opened on June 7, 2006, replacing the Blossom Park Branch established by the former City of Gloucester
.
. The Lebreton Flats site was rejected as a possible location as it is not considered part of the downtown core.
when it opened in 1934.
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
system of Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and is the largest bilingual library (English and French) in North America. The library was founded in 1906 with a donation from the Carnegie Foundation
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Carnegie Corporation of New York, which was established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 "to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding," is one of the oldest, largest and most influential of American foundations...
.
Origin of the OPL
Bytown Mechanics' Institute
The Bytown Mechanics' Institute is an Upper Canada example of knowledge transfer organizations aimed at the grass roots. These institutions were Victorian and moralistic in tone and class oriented in structure which, in part, explains their failure...
, but no truly free place in which anyone could read. The city's active Local Council of Women took up the cause of a free library for all. They announced, just before the election of 1896, that the mansion of George Perley
George Halsey Perley
Sir George Halsey Perley, KCMG, PC was an American born Canadian politician and diplomat.-Early life:...
, a local lumber baron, was donated in his will as a home for the library. However, the city voted down the motion to build a library, as well as another motion to build a firehall; the city just didn't have any money to spare for "luxuries".
Only in 1901, when letters were mailed to 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...
. Carnegie replied that he would offer $100,000 to the city to build the library if they provided a site and a pledge of $7,500 a year to maintain it. They eventually agreed in January 1903, and within a few years the library was built and open to the public.
The day after its official opening, in 1906, the original Carnegie library
Carnegie library
A Carnegie library is a library built with money donated by Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. 2,509 Carnegie libraries were built between 1883 and 1929, including some belonging to public and university library systems...
opened several hours later than expected, because the mass of people who had come to the opening day left the entire library in complete disarray, and had walked off with many items.
Present day OPL
National Capital Commission
The National Capital Commission , is a Canadian Crown corporation that administers the federally owned lands and buildings in Canada's National Capital Region, including Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec.The NCC was created in 1959, replacing the Federal District Commission , which had been...
. The library now has thirty-three branches spread throughout urban and rural Ottawa.
Before the City of Ottawa's amalgamation
Amalgamation (politics)
A merger or amalgamation in a political or administrative sense is the combination of two or more political or administrative entities such as municipalities , counties, districts, etc. into a single entity. This term is used when the process occurs within a sovereign entity...
in 2001, which resulted in the merging of eleven separate municipal library systems, the Ottawa Public Library itself only had eight libraries, including Sunnyside
Bank Street (Ottawa)
Bank Street is the major north-south road in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It runs south from Wellington Street in downtown Ottawa, south through the neighbourhoods of Centretown, The Glebe, Old Ottawa South, Alta Vista, Hunt Club, and then through the villages of Blossom Park, Leitrim, South...
, Rideau
Rideau Street
Rideau Street is a major street in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and one of Ottawa's oldest and most famous streets running from Wellington Street in the west to Montreal Road in the east where it connects to the Vanier district...
, and Rosemount
Wellington Street West
Wellington Street West is a 4-lane arterial road west of downtown Ottawa, Ontario and is not to be confused with the principal Wellington Street in downtown Ottawa. It begins at Bayview Road as a westbound one-way street until it merges with Somerset Street to attain its full right-of-way...
. Today, the library is divided into district branches Nepean
Nepean, Ontario
- Recent quantity of snow :- History :Nepean Township, originally known as Township D, was established in 1792 and originally included what is now the central area of Ottawa west of the Rideau River. Jehiel Collins, from Vermont, is believed to have been the first person to settle in Nepean...
Centrepointe
Centrepointe
Centrepointe is a neighbourhood in Ottawa, Canada and part of the former city of Nepean. The population of Centrepointe is between 4,000 and 4,500 people...
, Cumberland
Cumberland, Ontario
Cumberland was a township in eastern Ontario, Canada, that existed from 1800 to 1999, when it was incorporated as the City of Cumberland. It ceased to be a separate municipality in 2001, when it was amalgamated into the city of Ottawa.-History:...
and Greenboro,community branches such as Sunnyside, Ruth E. Dickinson and Carlingwood and several rural branches.
Patrons throughout the new city have greatly benefited from the 2001 merger as they can now easily order almost items from another branch, and return books to any branch in the city. Ordering items via the library website for pickup at a local branch has been very popular, with over 5 million visitors to the website in 2007. The new system is very centralized, which has meant a loss of decision-making power in many ways, including the choice of books for purchase and the old, local ways of running the smaller libraries. Patrons can however suggest items for the library to purchase.
The current City Librarian of OPL is Barbara Clubb, who was also president of the Canadian Library Association
Canadian Library Association
The Canadian Library Association is a national, predominantly English-language association which represents 57,000 library workers across the country. It also speaks for the interests of the 21 million Canadians who are members of libraries...
in 2005. The OPL is governed by a board of fourteen part-time members appointed by the City of Ottawa, six city councillors and eight members of the public. The Library is funded mainly by the city through local tax revenues. Some revenue also comes from the province, and traditional library sources of fees, fines, and fundraising.
The library system has 2.3 million items, 91.7% percent of which are books. The library also has a large audio-visual collection including DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s, CDs, VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
tapes and downloadable books and music. Since Ottawa has a significant francophone population, a large portion of the collection is in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, with some branches such as Vanier
Vanier, Ontario
-External links:**...
working almost exclusively in French. Smaller collections offer a wide array of other languages, notably Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
, Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
, and Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
. According to the latest Ontario library statistics, only the Toronto Public Library
Toronto Public Library
Toronto Public Library is a public library system based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest public library system in Canada and in 2008, had averaged a higher...
has larger holdings. The library hosts a full range of programming for both adults and children, with children's programming being extremely popular. There are also 359 public internet stations and 79 electronic databases.
The Library's two bookmobile
Bookmobile
A bookmobile or mobile library is a large vehicle designed for use as a library. It is designed to hold books on shelves so that when the vehicle is parked the books can be accessed by readers. It usually has enough space for people to sit and read books inside. Mobile libraries are often used to...
s, which operated out of the Sunnyside branch for almost 50 years, stop at regularly scheduled places throughout the city in an effort to reach areas without library branches. Many of these neighborhoods are poorer, more remote, or simply too far from a branch. During a funding crisis in 2004, the older bookmobile was nearly decommissioned, but it was kept in service with a second, new bookmobile added in 2005. The Bookmobile headquarters was moved to the new Greenboro District Branch in June 2006.
The large new Greenboro District Library, built in the city's rapidly growing South end, opened on June 7, 2006, replacing the Blossom Park Branch established by the former City of Gloucester
Gloucester, Ontario
Gloucester is a suburb of and within the City of Ottawa. Gloucester Township was established in 1792 and originally included lands east of the Rideau River from the Ottawa River south to Manotick. It was incorporated as a township in 1850 and became a city in 1981...
.
New Central Library
In recent years, numerous cities such as Vancouver, Seattle and Salt Lake City, have had great success in constructing new central libraries as part of downtown revitalization efforts. These urban landmarks have created new civic spaces that both create community and are key component of an information society. Accordingly, there is pressure for Ottawa to follow this trend and replace its outdated central library. There was an offer to the City Council from a developer for a partnership to build in the still-mostly-empty Lebreton FlatsLebreton Flats
LeBreton Flats is a neighbourhood in Ottawa, Canada. It lies to the west of Centretown neighbourhood, and to the north of Centretown West with "Nanny Goat Hill" as the dividing line...
. The Lebreton Flats site was rejected as a possible location as it is not considered part of the downtown core.
Branches
The Rideau Branch of the OPL is thought to have been the first bilingual public library branch in North AmericaNorth America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
when it opened in 1934.