Ottawa Public Library - Present Day OPL

Present Day OPL

The Main Library is located in downtown Ottawa at the corner of Metcalfe Street and Laurier Avenue West, at the same spot as the original Carnegie library, although nothing remains of the original building but a stained glass window. Several of the Corinthian columns from the old Carnegie library survive in the Rockeries in Rockcliffe Park, a rock garden maintained by the National Capital Commission. The library now has thirty-three branches spread throughout urban and rural Ottawa.

Before the City of Ottawa's amalgamation in 2001, which resulted in the merging of eleven separate municipal library systems, the Ottawa Public Library itself only had eight libraries, including Sunnyside, Rideau, and Rosemount. Today, the library is divided into district branches Nepean Centrepointe, Cumberland and Greenboro,community branches such as Sunnyside, Ruth E. Dickinson and Carlingwood and several rural branches.

Patrons throughout the new city have greatly benefited from the 2001 merger as they can now easily order almost items from another branch, and return books to any branch in the city. Ordering items via the library website for pickup at a local branch has been very popular, with over 5 million visitors to the website in 2007. The new system is very centralized, which has meant a loss of decision-making power in many ways, including the choice of books for purchase and the old, local ways of running the smaller libraries. Patrons can however suggest items for the library to purchase.

The current CEO of OPL is Danielle McDonald. The OPL is governed by a board of fourteen part-time members appointed by the City of Ottawa, six city councillors and eight members of the public. The Library is funded mainly by the city through local tax revenues. Some revenue also comes from the province, and traditional library sources of fees, fines, and fundraising.

The library system has 2.3 million items, 91.7% percent of which are books. The library also has a large audio-visual collection including DVDs, CDs, VHS tapes and downloadable books and music. Since Ottawa has a significant francophone population, a large portion of the collection is in French, with some branches such as Vanier working almost exclusively in French. Smaller collections offer a wide array of other languages, notably Chinese, Hindi, and Arabic. According to the latest Ontario library statistics, only the Toronto Public Library has larger holdings. The library hosts a full range of programming for both adults and children, with children's programming being extremely popular. There are also 359 public internet stations and 79 electronic databases.

The Library's two bookmobiles, which operated out of the Sunnyside branch for almost 50 years, stop at regularly scheduled places throughout the city in an effort to reach areas without library branches. Many of these neighborhoods are poorer, more remote, or simply too far from a branch. During a funding crisis in 2004, the older bookmobile was nearly decommissioned, but it was kept in service with a second, new bookmobile added in 2005. The Bookmobile headquarters was moved to the new Greenboro District Library in June 2006.

The large new Greenboro District Library, built in the city's rapidly growing South end, opened on June 7, 2006, replacing the Blossom Park Branch established by the former City of Gloucester.