The Saskatoon Public Library is a publicly funded library system in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. It is available for use by any member of the public; library cards are free for all Saskatonians. Saskatoon Public Library was established in 1913.

Branches

Saskatoon Public Library has nine branches across Saskatoon.

Frances Morrison Library

The Frances Morrison Central Library is located at 311 – 23rd Street East in downtown Saskatoon. It officially opened on May 28, 1966. This facility was named after Frances Morrison, who served as SPL’s chief librarian from 1961 to 1980. The Frances Morrison Central Library is the largest of SPL’s nine libraries and houses a dedicated Children’s Department, Fine Arts Department, Local History Room, Theatre, a computer lab and various administration offices, SPL’s Outreach & Access Services, Information Services, Fiction Services and Teen Services departments.

Alice Turner Library

The Alice Turner Branch is located at 110 Nelson Road. The current facility replaced the smaller Sutherland Branch in December 1998. It was renamed after Alice Turner McFarland who was a library employee for 37 years and chief librarian from 1981 to 1989. The first library in Canada to be built to the standards of C-2000 construction, Canada's environmental building code, Alice Turner Branch was expanded to double its original size in 2013.

Carlyle King Library

The Carlyle King Branch is located at 3130 Laurier Drive. It officially opened October 16, 1979 and is currently located in the Cosmo Civic Centre. Carlyle King Branch was the first branch library to be part of a multi-purpose facility in Saskatoon. The branch was named in honour of Carlyle King who, in addition to a distinguished academic career, was actively involved in the Saskatchewan Library Advisory Council, the Saskatchewan Library Association and the Saskatoon Public Library Board (1955-1972).

Cliff Wright Library

The Cliff Wright Branch is located at 1635 McKercher Drive. The Lakewood Library relocated when the Lakewood Civic Centre opened in October, 1988. The branch was officially opened on January 9, 1989, and was renamed after former mayor, Cliff Wright, on March 30, 1989.

J.S. Wood Library

The J.S. Wood Branch is located at 1801 Landsdowne Ave. It opened in 1961 and is named after James Stuart Wood, who was born in England in 1891 and worked as a college librarian before enlisting in the British Army. He came to Canada with his family in 1925, teaching in Nipawin and Prince Albert before taking the role of Chief Librarian at SPL in 1938.

Dr. Freda Ahenakew Library

The Dr. Freda Ahenakew Branch is located in the Monarch Yards Housing complex at the site of the Station 20 West Centre (100 – 219 Avenue K South). It was originally named the Library on 20th Street and renamed in 2017 to honour the legacy of Dr. Freda Ahenakew, in response to the Calls to Action of the

Truth and Reconciliation Commission A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state act ...

and in consultation with local Indigenous leaders.

Mayfair Library

The Mayfair Branch is located at 602 – 33rd Street West. The original Mayfair Branch Library was established in 1952 in the basement of the Mayfair Community Hall. By 1989, the building was no longer suitable for the library and the basement location presented accessibility problems. The Mayfair Branch was reopened in 1991, on the same site, after a one-year break in service during construction.

Rusty Macdonald Library

The Rusty Macdonald Branch is located at 225 Primrose Drive. It opened in 1989, as part of the Lawson Civic Centre, a multipurpose facility also housing a wave pool, weight room and exercise room. It is named after R. H. "Rusty" Macdonald, journalist, author, photographer and dedicated library trustee (1960-1981).

Round Prairie Library

The Round Prairie Branch is located at 170 – 250 Hunter Road. The branch was named in honour of the La Prairie Round (or Round Prairie) Métis, who were a community of buffalo hunters that established a wintering site near Dakota Whitecap in the late 1800s. In the 1920s and 1930s many in the community were forced to migrate to Saskatoon in search of work, and by the 1940s they had established a permanent and close knit community near the current site of the new SPL branch.

Writers in Residence

The Writer in Residence program at the library is co-funded by the

Canada Council for the Arts The Canada Council for the Arts (french: Conseil des arts du Canada), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It acts as the federal government's principal i ...

. Writers in Residence: *

Anne Szumigalski Anne Szumigalski, SOM (b. 3 January 1922 in London, England, d. 22 April 1999) was a Canadian poet. Life She was born Anne Howard Davis in London, England, and grew up mostly in a Hampshire village. She served with the Red Cross as a medical ...

* Patrick Lane *

Guy Vanderhaeghe Guy Clarence Vanderhaeghe (born April 5, 1951) is a Canadian novelist and short story writer, best known for his Western novel trilogy, ''The Englishman's Boy'', '' The Last Crossing'', and ''A Good Man'' set in the 19th-century American and Can ...

* Geoffrey Ursell * Joe Rosenblatt * Gertrude Story * Lois Simmie * Glen Sorestad *

Samuel Selvon Samuel Selvon (20 May 1923 – 16 April 1994)"Samuel Selvon"
Encyclopædia Brit ...

Candace Savage Candace Sherk Savage (born December 2, 1949) is a Canadian non-fiction writer. Early life Candace Sherk was born in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada on December 2, 1949. Both of her grandmothers were born in the United States and married Canadia ...

* Sean Virgo * Armin Wiebe * Betsey Warland *

Robert Minhinnick Robert Minhinnick (born 12 August 1952) is a Welsh poet, essayist, novelist and translator. He has won two Forward Prizes for Best Individual Poem and has received the Wales Book of the Year award a record three times (in 1993, 2006 and 2018). ...

Sandra Birdsell Sandra Louise Birdsell, CM (née Bartlette) (born 22 April 1942) is a Canadian novelist and short story writer of Métis and Mennonite heritage from Morris, Manitoba. Life and career Born in Hamiota, Manitoba, Birdsell was the fifth of eleven c ...

* Steven Ross Smith * Harry Rintoul * Elisabeth Harvor * John Livingstone Clark *

Edna Alford Edna Alford (born 19 November 1947 in Turtleford, Saskatchewan) is a Canadian author and editor. She was a graduate of Adam Bowden Collegiate, Saskatoon, and got scholarships to attend the Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts. Some of her teache ...

* Dave Margoshes * Myrna Kostash *

Yann Martel Yann Martel, (born 25 June 1963) is a Canadian author who wrote the Man Booker Prize–winning novel '' Life of Pi'', an international bestseller published in more than 50 territories. It has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide and spen ...

* J. Jill Robinson * Jeanette Lynes * Curtis Peeteetuce *

Yvette Nolan Yvette Nolan (Algonquian peoples, Algonquin) (1961) is a Canadians, Canadian playwright, director, actor, and educator based out of Saskatchewan, Canada. She was born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. She has contributed significantly to the creati ...

* David A. Poulsen * Dee Hobsbawn-Smith *

Arthur Slade Arthur Gregory Slade (born July 9, 1967 in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan) is a Canadian author. A resident of Saskatoon, he was raised on a ranch in the Cypress Hills and began writing in high school. He attended the University of Saskatchewan in Sa ...

References

External links

Saskatoon Public Library

Saskatchewan Libraries

{{Authority control Public libraries in Saskatchewan Culture of Saskatoon Library buildings completed in 1928 Tourist attractions in Saskatoon Organizations based in Saskatoon 1913 establishments in Canada Libraries established in 1913