NEWS RELEASE
COLLINGWOOD PUBLIC LIBRARY
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The Collingwood Public Library celebrated ten years of library service in their current location this past week. Despite the limitations placed on the library by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, library staff managed to find fun ways to celebrate the library - an anniversary flag contest, live music, a scavenger hunt, and a host of online programs, such as the virtual visit with mystery author Luba Lesychyn.
“We had hoped to have a much larger event in the spring, but COVID-19 put paid to that,” says Chief Executive Officer Ken Haigh. “However, we thought it would be a shame for the whole year to pass without acknowledging our anniversary, so library staff put together a fun roster of events to coincide with Ontario Public Libraries Week.”
There has been library service in Collingwood since 1856, when the Mechanics Institute opened a subscription library. In 1882, the provincial government passed the Public Libraries Act, which allowed municipalities to create free public libraries funded by local property taxes. Collingwood’s first stand-alone library opened in 1904 on Second and Maple streets, in a building funded by the Carnegie Foundation. Although, the beautiful Carnegie library burned down in 1963, a new library was built in its place and this served Collingwood until the community outgrew it and the present facility was opened on April 6, 2010.
The new facility would not have been possible but for generous donations from the community, which ranged from $100 to $50,000. These donors have been remembered in the library by numerous attractive brass and bronze plaques found throughout the facility. Many of the original donors have since passed away, but their legacy lives on in this vibrant, well-used and well-loved library.
For more details about our opening and ongoing COVID-19 response plan, visit www.collingwoodpubliclibrary.ca.
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