King Township Public Library

Template:Infobox library The King Township Public Library is a public library system that serves King Township, Ontario in Canada. It consists of four branches located in King City, Nobleton, Schomberg, and Ansnorveldt.

The library rotates certain books through the various branches to ensure all residents in the township have equal access to volumes held.

Collections include government works (e.g. federal budgets), annual reports, and maps. Periodicals and newspapers are archived for a short period of time. The library also maintains township history archives at the King City branch.

Services

The library system offers a number of programs for children and adults, plus language kits and multi-lingual books. A limited selection of music CDs and movie DVDs are available for loan in addition to book circulation.

• Information and reference services
• Access to full text databases
• Community information
• Internet access
• Reader's advisory services
• Programs for children, youth and adults
• Delivery to homebound individuals
• Interlibrary loan
• Free downloadable audiobooks

History

James Whitling Crossley established the first library in King, the King City Mechanics and Library Association, which opened in 1893 in King City, and was housed in his office.Template:Sfn In 1947, the King Memorial Library was established by members of the Women's Institute, and named to commemorate the local soldiers who died during World War II.Template:Sfn It was a privately-operated library supervised by Marjorie Jarvis, who had been president of the Ontario Library Association in 1935—1936.Template:Sfn It was located at Memorial Park in King City, first in an old barn, and later into a dedicated building.Template:Sfn Its collection included about 1000 items.Template:Sfn In 1956, the library was moved to 45 Springhill Road (now King Road) following a referendum of municipal taxpayers to operate it as a public library,Template:Sfn and was named the King City Memorial Library.Template:Sfn In 1969, its operations were merged into the Township of King Central Library,Template:Sfn which received most of the collection of the private library.Template:Sfn A new King City branch building was opened on 10 January 1970, on which day it received donations of many items, including a water colour painting of the previous building.Template:Sfn

In 1930, a library was established in Schomberg, serving the growing communities in the northeastern portion of the township. The Nobleton branch first opened to the public in 1968.Template:Sfn In 1990, a fundraising campaign was established to build a branch building in Ansnorveldt.Template:Sfn The Template:Convert building cost Template:Currency to build, of which one third was funded by a government of Ontario grant, one third by the municipal government, and the remaining one third was raised by the community, including Template:Currency by students of the nearby school.Template:Sfn

In 1976 and 1977, a dispute arose between the library board and the King Township Council regarding development of land adjacent to the King City branch into a lumber depot.Template:Sfn The library opposed the rezoning of the property, leading to two Ontario Municipal Board hearings and an appeal to the Ontario High Court of Justice before plans for the lumber depot were abandoned.Template:Sfn

In December 2016, a press release issued by the township municipal government stated that the King City branch would be expanded from Template:Convert to Template:Convert.Template:Sfn The structure would also be expanded to include a senior's centre, which would move from its location adjacent to the community centre.Template:Sfn It was expected to be completed in late 2018.Template:Sfn The township issued a request for tender in 2017, but all six applications received by the November deadline exceeded the specified $9.05 million budget.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn In 2018 the request for tender was re-issued after the architectural designs were modified to reduce costs, and all twelve submissions once again exceeded the preliminary budget; the contract was awarded because township staff believed "that it is highly unlikely further delay will result in better pricing".Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The awarded construction contact is valued at $8,426,500, with a total project budget of $10,764,000.Template:Sfn Funding will consist of $5,393,052 from development charges, $3 million from the issue of a debenture, and about $600,000 from reserves.Template:Sfn The township also purchased 0.45 acres of land of the adjacent King City Public School from the York Region District School Board, which it will merge with the King City Library property.Template:Sfn

The King City Library closed at the end of regular hours on 28 July 2018, after which it was moved to the lower level of the King City Seniors Centre and reopened on 4 September 2018.Template:Sfn The new building was opened in November 2021.Template:Sfn

Buildings

The current King City branch building at 1970 King Road is Template:Convert and is attached to the King City Seniors’ CentreTemplate:Sfn opposite King City Secondary School. Amenities include areas for children and teens, meeting and study spaces, a reading lounge, and a makerspace.Template:Sfn

File:KingCityLibrary.jpg

The former building of the King City branch of the King Township Public Library was demolished in 2018

The building it replaced was designed by Dennis Bowman and built in 1970 at a cost of Template:Currency (Template:Inflation).Template:Sfn The building was built into a hill, the lower floor at its rear overlooking a playground on the east side of King City Public School, and the upper floor level with the parking lot and King Road.Template:Sfn The entry foyer was on the upper level, and incorporated a wood and wool mural, the wood components of which consisted of a variety of woods, including panga panga, redwood, maple, and teak.Template:Sfn The interior was supported by Douglas fir beams spanning the upper floor.Template:Sfn

The single-floor Nobleton branch building was opened in 1987.Template:Sfn It is located at 8 Sheardown Drive where it intersects with Highway 27, across from Nobleton Plaza.Template:Sfn

The entrance of the single-floor Schomberg branch building is on the north side of the building.Template:Sfn The building is located at 77 Main Street.Template:Sfn

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Ansnorveldt branch of the library was performed by the chairman of the King Township Public Library Margaret Smithyes and councillor for Holland Marsh Bob Vooberg. The building is located at 18977 Dufferin Street, adjacent to Andnorveldt Park.Template:Sfn The collections are on the main floor, and a second floor is used for meetings and storage.Template:Sfn

Statistics

According to the 2014 "King Township Public Library Facilities Master Plan". Data is for 2012.Template:Sfn

	Ansnorveldt	King City	Nobleton	Schomberg
Building area	Template:Convert	Template:Convert	Template:Convert	Template:Convert
Hours open per week	13	60	35	42
Items held	7,764	29,166	15,398	19,671
Annual circulation	13,758	64,454	28,380	48,3437
Annual visits	10,277	44,773	20,272	45,228

See also

• Ontario Public Libraries
• Ask Ontario

References

• Template:Cite magazine

External links

• King Township Public Library
• Ontario Public Libraries
• King Township Public Library Facilities Master Plan (2014) at King Township Public Library
• Expanded King City Library & Relocated Seniors Centre at King Township Public Library