Stanley A. Milner Library
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| Established | 1967 |
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| Location | 7 Sir Winston Churchill Square Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T5J 2V4 |
| Coordinates | 53°32′35″N 113°29′23″W / 53.5430°N 113.4897°WCoordinates: 53°32′35″N 113°29′23″W / 53.5430°N 113.4897°W |
| Website | http://www.epl.ca/about-epl/branches-and-hours/stanley-a-milner-library |
The Stanley A. Milner Library was the main library for Edmonton Public Library. It was located on the southern side of Sir Winston Churchill Square in downtown Edmonton, near City Hall, Edmonton City Centre mall, the Francis Winspear Centre for Music, and the Citadel Theatre. As a central location in Edmonton, the library often took part in various events held at Churchill Square. In 2010, the library held an outdoor book sale in the square, selling aging and duplicate materials to the public. The Stanley A. Milner Library had a number of meeting rooms and a small theater in the lower level, that were used for library programs and would also be rented out by the public. The building is directly connected to the underground pedway network and to Edmonton's LRT. A number of ETS bus routes also serve the library along Harbin Road (102 Avenue) and 100 Street. Underground parking, run by the city, is also available. In 2016, the library closed its doors after that the new Enterprise Square Branch would open.
The Stanley A. Milner Library was also a centre for assistive services. Specialized magnifiers, projection reading rooms, large print books, braille material, voice dictation stations, and specialized computers were available as part of the library's mission to provide information access to all.
The Stanley A. Milner Library was opened in 1967 on the southern edge of Churchill Square. The site of the library was originally home to Market Square, Edmonton's main square and city market from 1900 to 1965. Although the square and market were considered a hub of Edmonton's community, the city wished to create a more dedicated civic centre. The city had already built and relocated city hall to its current location in 1956 and, in conjunction with the new art gallery completed in 1969, the library was designed to form part of this new centre.
The library replaced the original downtown library, which was located one block south on Macdonald Drive (today Jasper Ave) and 100th Street. The original downtown library was funded by a donation from Andrew Carnegie and completed in 1923 (a temporary downtown library had existed prior to this). The building was small though, and the city's growth boom in the post-WWII years fueled demand for a larger building. The new building was designed in the Brutalist style, common for many public buildings constructed in Edmonton in the 1960s. It features a cantilevered second level above a smaller lower level, exposed concreted, plate glass window walls, podium pillars, and a four-story tower atop it. It opened in 1967, and was originally named the "Centennial Library" in honour of the Canadian Centennial that year. The small public square on the south side of the library building was also named "Centennial Square". The original downtown library was sold and demolished in 1968, to make room for the Alberta Government Telephones Tower (today Telus Plaza). The library closed in 2016 to make way for the Enterprise Square Branch.
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