The Whitby Public Library is a

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

that serves the town of

Whitby, Ontario Whitby is a town in Regional Municipality of Durham, Durham Region in Ontario, Canada. Whitby is located in Southern Ontario east of Ajax, Ontario, Ajax and west of Oshawa, on the north shore of Lake Ontario and is home to the headquarters of D ...

, 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 budget.

History

The roots of the Whitby Public Library can be traced to a circulating collection started by Whitby

tailor A tailor is a person who makes or alters clothing, particularly in men's clothing. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to the thirteenth century. History Although clothing construction goes back to prehistory, there is evidence of ...

Hugh Fraser (1815–1890) in 1850. Fraser later became librarian when a local

Mechanics' Institute Mechanics' institutes, also known as mechanics' institutions, sometimes simply known as institutes, and also called schools of arts (especially in the Australian colonies), were educational establishments originally formed to provide adult edu ...

was formed in 1852, offering reading material to institute members. 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 Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...

. 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 In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

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. 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. 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 Shore Tilbe Perkins+Will, formerly Shore Tilbe Irwin & Partners (STIP), is a Canadian architecture firm based in Toronto, Ontario. Since its founding as Shore and Moffat in 1945, and later as Shore Tilbe Irwin & Partners, the firm has completed n ...

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 The Ontario Library Association (OLA) was established in 1900 and is the oldest continually operating library association in Canada. With over 4,000 members, OLA is also the largest library association in Canada and among the 10 largest library ...

's Building Award and an interior design award from the

Association of Registered Interior Designers of Ontario Association of Registered Interior Designers of Ontario (ARIDO) is a self-regulatory professional organization for interior designers in Ontario, Canada. It is the only recognized professional organization for interior designers in Ontario. ARIDO ha ...

. The 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. 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 branch as part of a new community centre on the same site. The branch occupied temporary quarters on Winchester Road during construction. The new Brooklin Community Centre & Library opened in November 2010.

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. 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 Camp X was the unofficial name of the secret Special Training School No. 103, a Second World War British paramilitary installation for training covert agents in the methods required for success in clandestine operations. It was located on the n ...

Trafalgar Castle School Trafalgar Castle School in Whitby, Ontario is an internationally known, independent day and boarding school for girls and young women in grades 4 through 12. Boarding at the school begins in grade 7. Founded in 1874 as "Ontario Ladies' College", ...

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.

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