The Surrey City Centre Library is the main branch of Surrey Libraries (

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

's public library system). It was opened in September 2011 and replaced the Whalley Public Library. Part of a re-vitalization project for the City Centre area, the building was designed by

Bing Thom Bing Wing Thom, (Traditional Chinese character, Chinese: 譚秉榮; 8 December 1940 – 4 October 2016) was a Canadian architect and urban designer. Born in Hong Kong, he immigrated to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with his family ...

. The library is located northwest of

Surrey Central station Surrey Central is an elevated station on the Expo Line of Metro Vancouver's SkyTrain rapid transit system. The station is located in the Whalley / City Centre district of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, just east of the North Surrey Recrea ...

in the Whalley / City Centre neighbourhood.

Planning and construction

Part of a long-term re-vitalization effort by the City of Surrey, dubbed "Build Surrey", the City Centre branch library project was launched in 2009. It replaced the Whalley Public Library. The library is part of complex including the City Centre shopping and education complex, a performing arts centre, and City Hall. The design was awarded to Bing Thom Architects, who had designed the nearby City Centre complex as well as Vancouver-area buildings such as the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

's Chan Centre. The total budget was set at $36 million; the provincial and federal governments each contributed $10 million with the remainder supplied by the city. It is

LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a Green building certification systems, green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating ...

Gold certified. Faced with a short public consultation period, the architects used social media to gain input from the community. Through Facebook, Twitter, and a blog, respondents compiled an "ideasbook" of desired elements. Construction finished in the summer of 2011, and the branch was opened to the public in September of that year.

Facilities

The library has of usable space spread over four floors. Its 100,000-item collection of print materials is modest for a large urban library; the library is focused on community services such as language programs for Surrey's large immigrant population, youth and adult programs, and computer access. The library features non-traditional facilities like a cafe, an iPad station for children, a meditation room (which also serves as a prayer room), and bookable study room spaces.

Appearance in media

Surrey Central Library appears in the following media: * City-building computer game '' Cities: Skylines'' as a "Grand Library" * TV series ''Continuum'': Season 4, Episode 5 as a "Piron Labs" * ''

Supergirl Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. Th ...

'': Season 2, Episode 6 as "National City Art Gallery" * TV series ''Travelers'': Season 1, Episode 1 * Everything, Everything as a library * Adventures in Babysitting (2016) as a library

References

External links

Surrey Libraries website, City Centre Library
{{Authority control Library buildings completed in 2011 Buildings and structures in Surrey, British Columbia Surrey Libraries, City Centre Libraries established in 2011 2011 establishments in Canada