Surrey Public Library

Infobox_Library
library_name = Surrey Public Library
library_
established = 1983
num_branches = 9
collection_size =
annual_circulation = 3.9 million [ [http://www.spl.surrey.bc.ca/NR/rdonlyres/1CDA2E9E-C82D-40E6-8CA4-B229D14068EC/0/AnnualReport2006web.pdf Annual Report 2006] ]
pop_served =
budget = CA $11,202,000 [ [http://www.spl.surrey.bc.ca/NR/rdonlyres/B5B7087A-6C75-40F9-819E-0110C410DBB2/0/2006SOFILibrary.pdf Statement of Financial Information 2006] ]
director = Beth Barlow [ [http://www.spl.surrey.bc.ca/About+Us/Library+Board/Current+Board.htm Current Board] ]
num_employees =
website = [http://www.spl.surrey.bc.ca/ www.spl.surrey.bc.ca]

Surrey Public Library is a municipal public library serving Surrey, British Columbia and the surrounding Lower Mainland.

According to the 2007 Annual Report, there are over 283,993 registered borrowers, and over 2,212,000 people visited Surrey Public Library branches in 2007.

History

Prior to 1983, Surrey was a member of the Fraser Valley Regional Library. In 1982, Surrey held a referendum on the withdrawal from FVRL, which passed. On March 17, 1983, Surrey began operating as an independent municipal library. The Surrey Public Library includes the Newton branch, which was awarded the Governor General's Award for architecture in 1994. [cf. 1994: Patkau Architects Inc. Architecture Canada, The Governor General’s Awards for Architecture: pp.92-99, Newton Library]

Collection

Surrey provides patrons with books, music CDs, CDROMs, books on tape/CD, databases, videos, DVDs, magazines, reference books, newspapers and e-books. Library material is available in Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, Farsi, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Punjabi, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Urdu, and Vietnamese. The database collection include Alldata (mechanical - Guildford only), Novellist, Press Display, and Worldbook online.

Locations

The library has nine branches:
*Cloverdale
*Fleetwood
*Guildford
*Newton
*Ocean Park
*Port Kells
*Semiahmoo
*Strawberry Hill
*Whalley

Hours

* Monday to Friday: 09:30–21:00
* Saturday: 10:00–17:00
* Sunday: 13:00–17:00 (Year round at Guildford, Whalley, Newton, Semiahmoo, Fleetwood, Strawberry Hill)

Assistive Technology

ART (Accessing Resources and Technology) is located at Guildford and Semiahmoo Branches. These computer workstations help those with visual impairment, learning, reading or physical disabilities read and listen to books, documents and web pages or use word processing applications.

Programs

Surrey Public Library has services and programs for patrons of all ages.

Genealogy

The Cloverdale Branch has the largest collection of Canadian genealogy resources, west of Ottawa, including books and microfilms.Fact|date=September 2008 Located near the Surrey Archives, the Genealogy department offers a number of programs on genealogical research.

Patrons can access Ancestry.com database for free at the Cloverdale Branch. There are special records sets such as the Metis Scrip records, Chinese Head Tax Registers, Li Ra Ma, and the Peter Robinson papers.

2008 Writer-In-Residence

As part of its 25th anniversary, Surrey Public Library hosted a writer-in-residence program. The writer-in-residence is playwright and fiction writer Mansel Robinson.

Awards

2008 Library Board

* Chair: Wayne Webber
* Vice Chair: Jas Cheema
* Jay Bains
* Carolyn Bugnon
* Peter Leblanc
* Muhammad Afzal Malik
* Rani Mangat
* Larry Onusko
* Council Representative: Judy Higginbotham
* Chief Librarian and Secretary of the Board: Beth Barlow

References

External links

* [http://www.spl.surrey.bc.ca/ Official site]