The Lethbridge Public Library (or LPL, as it is commonly known) is a

public library A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants. There are ...

service that is provided by the municipality of

Lethbridge Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 101,482 in its 2019 Alberta municipal censuses, 2019 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada. It was established in 1919. While it has had as many as three branches at one time, the library currently has two branches. The Lethbridge Public Library includes a bookmobile service with a collection of over 16,000 titles, that travels 6 days a week to locations throughout the city and Coalhurst. The library is a member of the Chinook Arch Regional Library System and

The Alberta Library The Alberta Library (TAL) is a not-for-profit library consortium consisting of 50 member libraries and library systems in over 300 locations in the Canadian province of Alberta. Members include public, post-secondary, government and special libra ...

Services

*Information and reference services *Access to full-text databases *Community information *Internet access on public computers and

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...

*Reader's advisory services *Programs for children, youth and adults *Delivery to homebound individuals *Interlibrary loan *Free downloadable eAudiobooks and eBooks *Gaming Stations (At The Crossings Branch only)

History

In 1910, several Lethbridge residents wrote letters to the editor and held meetings to express support for the establishment of a library. The following year, the

Lethbridge City Council The Lethbridge City Council is the legislative governing body that represents the citizens of Lethbridge, Alberta. Eight councillors and the mayor comprise the council. The mayor is the city's chief elected official and the city manager is its chief ...

passed a bylaw for provision of a library to be known as the Lethbridge Public Library. It was not until 1919, however, until the library opened. It first opened in August of the year at the former location of the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

at 10 Street and 4 Avenue in the

downtown core The Downtown Core is the historical and downtown centre of the city-state of Singapore and the main commercial area in Singapore excluding reclaimed lands with many integrated resorts such as the Marina Bay Sands, one of the most expensive build ...

. The first library board consisted of W. J. Nelson (chair), H. W. Meech, and Rev. C. E. Cragg, and the first librarians were A. N. Filmer, L. McIndoe and Arthur Frayne. The first building — referred to as the Carnegie Library — created specifically for the library opened on 23 January 1922 at a construction cost of $26,996. It was located in Galt Gardens and consisted of a children's library, adult library, and lecture room. The

Southern Alberta Art Gallery The Southern Alberta Art Gallery Maansiksikaitsitapiitsinikssin is a contemporary art gallery located in downtown Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. It has three gallery spaces and a gift shop. History In 1974, local residents formed the Southern Alber ...

currently occupies this building. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, an increase in patronage to the library resulted a period of growth. In 1951, an extension was built on to the Carnegie Library. Separate branches were built on the northside and southside in 1956 and 1961 respectively. This expansion culminated with the construction of the building that currently houses the library. This building amalgamated the services from the three previous locations. A 1,858 m² (20,000 sq. ft.) extension was added to this building in 1992. On August 30, 2010, The Crossings Branch Library opened on the west side of Lethbridge as part of a Community Schools complex between Chinook High School, and Catholic Central High School West Campus.

References

External links

Lethbridge Public Library
{{Authority control Library buildings completed in 1922 Culture of Lethbridge Public libraries in Alberta Carnegie libraries in Canada Buildings and structures in Lethbridge 1919 establishments in Alberta Libraries established in 1919