Brampton Library
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| Type | System of public libraries in Brampton, Ontario |
|---|---|
| Established | 1858 |
| Branches | 6 branches |
| Collection | |
| Items collected | Business directories, phone books, maps, government publications, books, periodicals, genealogy, local history |
| Other information | |
| Director | Rebecca Raven |
| Website | Brampton Library |
Funded by the City, the Brampton Library is a system of public libraries in Brampton, Ontario, 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 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 six permanent locations. Brampton Library has a collection of more than 562,000 books, magazines, large print materials, audio books, and DVDs. Currently, the library has a staff of 160 full-time and part-time employees. Brampton Library services a population of just under 600,000 people of more than 175 distinct ethnicities.
Rebecca Raven is the Chief Executive Officer of the Brampton Library, a position that replaces that of Executive Director.
Branches that are currently in operation are named in bold.
Brampton was the first public library system in Ontario to acquire federal and provincial case law records. The case law collection was opened in this branch in 1978, on the prompt of the Central Ontario Regional Library System.
This branch is undergoing extensive renovations, expected to be finished in the summer of 2017. During this time, the library branch is mostly closed and its collection has been distributed to other branches.
It is named after the Township of Chinguacousy's last reeve, Cyril Clark.
At the 1938 annual general meeting, it was announced that Wm. Perkins Bull's "pioneer and Indian relics" would be housed at the library on display. When former Brampton High School principal William James Fenton died in 1952, it was decided that the proposed addition to the structure would be named in his honour.
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 allowed to take books off the closely watched shelves.
In 1907, the library successfully received a grant from US steel magnate Andrew Carnegie 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.
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