Pincher Creek Municipal Library serves the needs of approximately 3,700 local residents.
They offer Children's Books, Juvenile Fiction and Non Fiction, Young Adult Books, Adult Fiction and Non Fiction, Large Print Books, eAudiobooks, Music and Videos on CDs, and Magazines and Newspapers.
There are continuing additions to the collections.
CELA - Centre for Equitable Library Access
Chinook Arch member libraries offer access to CELA’s collection of books, magazines, newspapers and described videos in a choice of formats for people with a print disability.
Lots of choice including current bestsellers, award-winners and classics
Fiction, non-fiction, self-help, business and more
Books for kids, teens and adults
Books in audio, braille or accessible e-book formats
Download books or receive home delivery by mail
History
Pincher Creek & District Municipal Library's history is long. Before 1900 a reading room was opened. This was a place where residents could go to read their own books, mail, or newspapers. This lasted for a few years, but, by 1903 residents had grown hungry for better things. A committee was established to begin collecting books and to lend them out.
The first real library was this collection as it was growing, housed in the Presbyterian Church Hall. $1.00 was charged for an annual membership. As the library's collection quickly expanded, it needed more storage space, so it moved to the warehouse in Scott Brother's Furniture. The following years however, saw library membership decline. Eventually they were forced to move to a less desirable location, Mitchell's Drug Store.
In 1928, many books were brought from the Litchfield Memorial Library in Boston, Mass. These books were added to the existing collection and moved to the Town Hall of the time. The library was, at first, only open on Saturdays and paid its employees $1.00 per week. Later it was also open on Wednesday evenings. Unfortunately the library did not last, and in 1940 it was closed due to insufficient funds.
Throughout World War Two, although there was no public library, a local pharmacist opened a private library and charged five cents per book per week to rent. In 1949 a library was opened under the Provincial Libraries Act. It was in a building used as a high school prior to the library taking it over.
In 1963 the Municipal District of Pincher Creek and the Village of Cowley took over some of the funding costs and it was renamed the Pincher Creek & District Municipal Library.
Pincher Creek's centennial project was to build a new library. It was not completed until 1968 though. Later the library received a gift of $10 000 to build the Bert Rigall Memorial Alcove. That library stayed in existence until 1999 when it was moved to the Multi-Purpose Complex where it remains to today.
Our library has gone through many stages to go from its simple beginnings as a reading room to becoming a part of our town's modern Multi-Purpose Complex.
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