Abbott's Guide to Ottawa and Vicinity/Public Library
CARNEGIE LIBRARY
PUBLIC LIBRARY.
The handsome building of Indiana limestone, at the corner of Metcalfe street and Laurier avenue, is the Public Library, the gift of Andrew Carnegie. The building, which cost $100,000, was opened in May, 1908. It contains 45,000 books, including 5,000 works of reference. On the main floor are the circulating and children's departments, and a reading room with the leading magazines. On the second floor is the reference department and board room, also a small lecture room and study rooms. In the basement are the newspapers, and a room in which free classes in technical subjects are held during the winter. The famous painting by James Archer, "Peter the Hermit preaching," hangs on the main staircase. The library is classified under the Expansive system, and is equipped with separate card catalogues for the circulating, reference and children's departments. Free access is allowed to all books in the reference and children's departments; a selection from the circulating department is kept on open shelves in the main reading room, and permits are issued to students and others wishing to consult books in the stack room. Residents of Ottawa may borrow, for two weeks at a time, one book of fiction and two of non-fiction. The Library is open from 9 a.m. to 9.30 p.m. every day, except Sundays and statutory holidays. The Librarian is Mr. Lawrence J Burpee, F R.G.S.