Opened September 20, 2008, 120 West 14th Street

(Photo 4.)

Saturday, July 10, 2010
Saturday Special Feature
New City of N V Library a Beaut!

The new City of North Vancouver Library is a beaut! Its three stories of glass command attention from its site at 120 West 14th Street.  The library serves the 44,000 residents of the City with 900 visitors a day.  The library opening on September 20, 2008 was dotted with luminaries. Meg Till of "The Big Chill" fame and now a writer was an honored guest. (See Link 2.)

Each of the three floors of the  City Library has its own computers and study spaces and also its own specialty. On the third floor it is reference materials and nonfiction. On the second floor it is fiction, "The Media Room", "The Room" for teens, and a circular magazine display. On the first floor it is the children's area with it own outdoor children's reading garden and another circular display, this time of new books. The views from the third floor of the North Shore mountains to the north and downtown Vancouver to the south are spectacular. Next door on the first floor is Braza Library Cafe with bakery treats. The whole complex is decorated with art work. The donor trees are pressed into the concrete of the front plaza. Each floor has wall sized murals: names of writers, "Welcome" repeated in many languages, a giant moose in the forest, abstract circles and splashes. Even the underground pay parking lot greets you with a carved glass mural called "My People Will Rise Up" by Marriane Nicholson. (See photo above.)

"North Vancouver's first library service began in January 1869, but it wasn't until November 12th, 1924 that a Public Library Association was officially chartered and a small fee-for-service library opened.  For many years there after, a small group of women operated the library in various  places in the Lower Lonsdale area. (Including above a butcher shop.) Members borrowed from its stock of donated books or those purchased from the proceeds of afternoon teas and card parties. Closure often threatened due to lack of funds and inadequate premises.

"For a while, the Association received small grants from the City and the province, but during the Depression of the 1930's, these fell, and finally ceased. Sheer determination kept the library going, and by 1945, a monthly circulation of approximately 600 was achieved. The City's annual grant had been renewed, and had grown to $240 per year. This relative affluence enabled the Association to employ a few paid workers. In 1949, with the help from governments at all three levels, the old Wartime Administration Building on 2nd Street (131 East 2nd Street) became the library's new home.  By 1950, circulation had topped 20,000 and City Council was asked for increasing grants each year.

1949, 131 East 2nd Street

"As part of the 1958 British Columbia Centennial celebration, the City built the North Vancouver Centennial Library on West 8th Street (135 West 12th Street).  In a December 1964 public referendum, the library became a free, tax-supported municipal library.  In 1966, a new wing and a separate children's department doubled the size of the building. 

November 1958, 135 West 12th Street

"In 1975, the library moved to a new Civic Centre on West 14th Street, (121 West 14th Street) and became the North Vancouver City Library.  Thirty-three years later a magnificent state-of-the-art 36,000 square foot new library (120 West 14th Street) opened on the plaza across from the 1975 building.

Opened March 8, 1975, 121 West 14th Street

(Photo 3.)

"After 84 years of constant effort by several generations of dedicated people, the City of North Vancouver opened a wonderful new library on September 20, 2008, reflecting the City's continued growth and aspirations." (See Link 1.)

Present Status of Old Library Buildings

In Use: 131 East 2nd Street-Occupied by Lower Lonsdale Planning Centre and Women's Resource Centre.
Demolition: 135 West 12th Street, after 1995-Condominium complex built.
Boarded Up: 121 West 14th Street-Possibly to be used for City Hall office space.

Photos

Photo 1: Taken of the 1949 City Library on East 2nd Street in 2010 by SW.

Photo 2: Copy of the 1958 City Library at 135 West 12th Street, Archives photo #13663.

Photo 3: Digital copy of North Vancouver Archives photo 9060. Cropped by SW.

Photo 4: Taken of the 2008 City Library in 2009 by SW.

Photo 5: Taken of "My People Will Rise Up" in 2009 by SW.

Photo 6: From Archives pamphlet, "A Little History of the City of North Vancouver Public Library", 1971.

Reference: "The Ambitious City" A History of the City of North Vancouver by Warren Sommer.

Link 1: http://www.cnv.org/nvcl/

Link 2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meg_Tilly
Thank You: To James Reimer and Laura Nauman at the North Vancouver City Library for their information search.