It’s time for a birthday bash at City Library!
This year, 2024, marks 100 years of library service in the City of North Vancouver. Library staff are planning community programming and celebrations to recognize the milestone year.
Throughout the City’s storied history, the library has been a beacon of lifelong learning, cultural discovery and social connection. Now, as the library enters its second century, it remains committed to nurturing the love of learning in all its forms and connecting people to ideas, experiences and one another.
Community members are invited to contribute to the library’s centennial cookbook — a shared repository of recipes that reflect the tapestry of our neighbourhood. Selected recipes will be published in a cookbook to be available later this year.
Also planned for this year: a variety of themed programs to celebrate learning and literacy for all ages like crafting a time capsule, a bookmark design contest, and special reading lists and book displays. An interactive timeline will take customers on a journey from past to present with archival photos and artifacts, and a community-wide celebration will take place in September.
“The library has been a source of inspiration and learning for hundreds of thousands of people through its history,” Chief Librarian Deb Hutchison Koep said. “Celebrating 100 years is a testament to the enduring importance of this library and its place in our community and a way for us to acknowledge our past and inspire our future.”
Based on historical records, the North Vancouver Public Library Association established the first community-organized public library service in the City of North Vancouver on Nov. 12, 1924. It evolved from a fee-for-borrowing system in its early years into a dynamic, municipal organization that was the first Lower Mainland library to eliminate late fines in 2020. For more information about the library’s centennial, sign up for the library’s weekly enews for regular updates.