Uncover the rich history of the Vancouver Public Library’s central branch as it celebrates its 30th year

People wearing face masks enter the Vancouver Public Library's central branch after it and four other branches reopened with limited services, in Vancouver, on Tuesday, July 14, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

As the Vancouver Public Library’s central branch celebrated its 30th anniversary at the end of May, staff reflected on the milestones and memorable moments experienced at the building since it opened on West Georgia Street in 1995.

Its inception had been the result of a public referendum calling for a new facility to replace the aging VPL building on Burrard Street and those memorable moments, says Kay Cahill, VPL’s director of Information Technology and Collections, had begun to mount before the ribbon had even been cut.

“The move from the old building to the new was really quite something. There were 600 or so truckloads of materials that had to be transported,” she says.

An invitation to the public to take part in what the library called ‘Operation Bookworm’ saw book lovers come together to form a human chain and pass the hundreds of publications from the old library building to the new.

“I believe the first book to arrive was actually the World Bibliography of Bibliographies,” says Cahill, adding how the library now offers up over one million publications in its collection.

The interesting tales and tidbits created during those first few weeks would be joined by countless others as time went on, giving the library a history at 30 years that is storied in a way rarely associated with buildings of such youth.

Few people will know, for example, that if you enter the doors of the central branch and look directly upwards, you will see a time capsule, buried between levels 2 and 3, that was made and hidden during the library’s 16th anniversary in 2010.

Naturally, Cahill refuses to divulge what exactly can be found inside. It would spoil the secret ahead of its opening in 2040, she says, but she does disclose that its contents revolve around the theme ‘One Book, One Vancouver.’

The World Bibliography of Bibliographies might have been the first text to enter the library’s front doors, but the most impressive publication to do so is one that has been passed down for centuries, and through more hands than just those of the Vancouver public.

A Breviarium, a medieval manuscript written by nuns in a German convent in 1430, is kept with other old and rare books in a special, climate-controlled vault on the library’s seventh floor. It is the facility’s oldest artefact, sitting alongside periodicals, maps and manuscripts from B.C.’s first explorers.

Cahill says the library is currently working to digitize some of the ancient texts to allow the public to peruse them safely online. Until then, it can only be viewed upon request and under the guidance of library staff.

Cahill, who joined the library on its 10th anniversary and is celebrating her 20th year with the facility as it celebrates its 30th, has witnessed firsthand some of the change and growth the library has been subject to over the decades.

She notes the reclaiming of the 8th and 9th floors that, for the first 20 years of the library’s lifespan, were leased out to the provincial government. It was a major turning point for the facility, she says, namely because the space was repurposed to become the library’s rooftop garden – one of few rooftop spots in Vancouver where one can enjoy the sun without paying $30 for a cocktail.

The Inspiration Lab, which opened in May 2015, features analog-to-digital conversion stations where visitors can digitize their old videotapes and photo negatives. A particularly fond memory of Cahill’s is of one man who arrived at the lab with a pillowcase stuffed with videotapes, not realizing, in his excitement to digitize them all, that the project would take at least three weeks to complete.

The space is also home to green screens, computers with editing and graphic design software, and recording studios available to be used by musicians and podcasters.

“There’s actually a really inspirational story about a busker who busked on Granville Street for years and years and was constantly asked whether or not he had CDs of his music,” recalls Cahill.

“He was able to come into the library, make a recording, use the software to do the editing, and then he was able to make his CD and have that available for people to buy. It changed his whole way of being.”

Musical instruments – guitars, ukuleles, violins, keyboards – are also available to be rented, and Cahill says the library “works really hard” to make the public aware that the facility is about more than just books.

“It’s always going to be a journey of exploration when you come to the library,” she says, touching on how the space is a place of community connection and a hotbed of creativity when it comes to the worlds of music, art, writing, and film.

Film buffs will likely know that the central branch building has featured in numerous movies and TV series, including The Flash, Supergirl, Altered Carbon, Battlestar Galactica, and the Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi action flick The 6th Day, where it was blown to smithereens.

With such interesting tidbits making up much of the library’s history, Cahill expects the Vancouver public to come out in full force for the guided tour that has been put in place to celebrate the 30th anniversary. There’s plenty more to be learned, she says, and countless other accomplishments to acknowledge regarding the library’s literary programs and First Nations connections.

The June 12 tour is a drop-in event starting at 6 p.m., although Cahill recommends swinging by in advance. With over 1.5 million visitors having visited the library in 2024 and much of the Vancouver public hankering to be a part of its ongoing history, there could be a queue.