Hardcover, 184 pages
English language
Published Jan. 1, 2012 by Kingsley Publishing.
(0 reviews)
The origins of the Calgary Public Library date back to the first decade of the 20th century when Calgary was emerging as western Canada's fastest-growing farming and ranching centre. At the time, the men of the frontier city predicted that sustained economic growth would soon cause the population to increase tenfold to 100,000. The women said that such a great city would require a great library.
Prominent among those women was a literary enthusiast named Annie Davidson who led the successful drive to have Alberta's first public library built in Calgary. With an endowment from the Carnegie Corporation, the Calgary Public Library opened to the public in early 1912. Over the ensuing century it has continually proven its value to seekers of enlightenment, enrichment, and entertainment. Much more than a repository for books, this award0winning institution provides a cornucopia of services and programs to empower, enable, and excite the imagination …
The origins of the Calgary Public Library date back to the first decade of the 20th century when Calgary was emerging as western Canada's fastest-growing farming and ranching centre. At the time, the men of the frontier city predicted that sustained economic growth would soon cause the population to increase tenfold to 100,000. The women said that such a great city would require a great library.
Prominent among those women was a literary enthusiast named Annie Davidson who led the successful drive to have Alberta's first public library built in Calgary. With an endowment from the Carnegie Corporation, the Calgary Public Library opened to the public in early 1912. Over the ensuing century it has continually proven its value to seekers of enlightenment, enrichment, and entertainment. Much more than a repository for books, this award0winning institution provides a cornucopia of services and programs to empower, enable, and excite the imagination of Calgarians.
The Calgary Public Library: Inspiring Life Stories Since 1912, award-winning popular historian Brian Brennan introduces us to the principals in the Library's ongoing success story. As he connects the stories of those who made a difference to the Library and to Calgary, Brennan paints a vivid portrait of an ever-evolving community resource that will continue to provide valuable service for centuries to come. He begins with his narrative with Annie Davidson and pioneering founding librarian Alexander Calhoun, and ends it with Mayor Naheed Nenshi and visionary Library leader Gerry meek. In between, Brennan tells of such respected former Library leaders as Bill Castell, Les Fowlie and John Dutton, of beloved former librarians Louise Riley and Georgina Thomson, of library users, artists, and politicians, of late-fee amnesties, Story hours and architecture, of expansion, of cost-savings, of equal access to the Library for all, of finding joy in a good book. In the end, the story of the Calgary Public Library becomes the story of Calgary itself.
Once dubbed "the friendliest door in town," the Calgary Public Library remains a welcoming haven for people of all ethnic, linguistic, political, religious, and socio-economic stripes. In the history of this progressive city, no place has touched more people, more powerfully, and in more ways than the Calgary Public Library.