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WEST VANCOUVER,  fol-
lowing the hardships of the
Depression and the Second
World War, was not the
well-serviced community we
know today.

By Maureen Curtis
Contributing Writer

Looking about for a suit-
able memorial project to pay
tribute to those who had
fought in both world wars, a
wish list was compiled that
included a hospital, swimming
pool, chapel, hall,
auditorium, park, community
centre and town clock — as
well as a library.

CONCRETE SEGINS to replace

quaint wood and stone of the originut

duilding.

In a 1947 referendum, West
Vancouverites chose the
library.

The West Vancouver Public

' Library Committee had to

persevere against a
disinterested district council
and a group that was con-
vinced that a firchall was a
higher priority — despite the
results of the referendum.
With a $2,000 contribution
from the municipality, the
West Vancouver Memorial
Library Society raised about
$20,000, while local construc-
tion companies donated ser-
vices to save about $15,000.
When the small wood and
stone structure opened across
from Memorial Park on Nov.

“11,1950, it provided residents

with their first real library
since the early 1930s.

Back in about 1919, for 50
cents per. year, you could
borrow books frem a collec-
tion of about 250 volumes in

“The Warld is at your

Effie M. Field's dry goods
and children's clothing store
at 14th and Bellevue.

Her collection was bought
up by the Hollyburn Public
Library Association and later
moved to George Gemmill’s
drugstore at 1402 Marine Dr,
where about 220 volumes
circulated/week.

Ads were placed in the
West Vancouver News pro-
claiming the new titles avail-
able at the library, which by
1931, enjoyed an annual cir-
culation of about 15,000.

But Hollyburn Public
Library did not survive the
harsh economic times of the
Depression, and in 1936, the
books were sold.

Although popular fiction
(romance and adventure) were
available from private
libraries located in gift shops,
stationers and even the ferry
building, they failed to meet
the eclectic tastes West Van-
couverites were already devel-
oping.

People were petitioning and
supporting referenda for a
municipal library by 1944, but
focal council waited for the
residents to come up with the
cash.

Enthusiasts launched a
number of fundraising
schemes and by May 1950,
pioneer John. Lawson was
able to turn the first sod.

Before Christmas, West.
Vancouver's first librarian,
Elizabeth Musto, was in-
stalled in the new building
which boasted a Book of
Remembrance dedicated to
the municipality’s war dead
and a stained glass window.

Musto, who worked there
until 1972, seems to have set
the tone for the library as a
friendly, comfortable place
where the only rules were
“No smoking and no dogs.”’

Readers soon outgrew the
smal! building, and in 1957,

young May Queen Wendy.

Welch cut the ribbon on the
first expansion project, the
two-storey south wing that
gave the children’s depart-
ment ils own space.

Purchasing neighboring
property, the library ex-
panded to the east in 1962,

In 1968, West Vancouver
Memorial cut its tics with the
Vancouver Public Library,
which had been administering
the library as a branch, and
purchased the first of three
Bookmobiles.

Although the Bookmobile
serviced the communities of

fingertips when you

Located at the comer of 7
Marine Drive

Education Is The
Key To The Future

LARCO

DEVELOPMENTS

Proud te be a part of the community

jancouvers

iad

a re
Hives:

JOHN LAWSON (centre, with shovel), West Vancouver’s first reeve, turns the first scd on May 27,
1950. The building was finished before the end of the year, and seven years later, It underwent its

first expansion: the addition of the two-storey south wing.

Glenmore, Chartwell, Cypress
Park and Horseshoe Bay on a
weekly basis, overcrowding ut
West Vancouver Memoria!
was an enduring problem that
persisted until 1976, when
construction began on
another expansion under the
guidance of administrator

Ruth Stott.
Improvements were made

to the collection of reference
materials, French and !ranian
books, periodicals, audio
cassettes and CDs, taped
books and large-print vol-
umes and more travel and
how-to books were ordered

abt

EXT

for the growing population of
leisured seniors.

Hired as chief librarian in
{978, Don Mills shepherded
the facility into the age of
automated cataloguing and
record-keeping that was car-
tied on by Jack Mounce in
1982,

The need for more space
was already evident by 1985,
and led to the appointment of
a steering committee and the
hiring of consultants to
undertake a planning and
architectural/engineering fea-
sibility studies.

Looking further ahead this

OR VIEWS of the library in the

to its first librarian, Elizabeth Musto.

CONGRATULATIONS
WEST VANCOUVER

YOU HAVE CREATED
AN EXCITING, NEW
WINDOW TO OUR
WORLD
==JiM PATTISON

TOYOTA

1765 Marine Dr., North Van

time, the replacement of the
1976 east wing with a three-
to four-storey addition, was
determined to be a longer-
term solution to the library’s
space problem.

The Memorial Library
Foundation was set up to
raise half of the $4.75 million
cost of the expansion, with
the help of a fundraising
consulting group.

Their efforts
success are the subject of
another story, but they
underline the strength of the
tradition created with the
original 1950 project.

and = their

Congeatulations

Dary!-Evans
4g IMechanical itd,

ww
AA,

Wd fantom

Plumbing * Heating * Gas + Medical Gases
+ Compressed Air

Congratulations on the
official grand epening of
the new West Vancouver

Library from

PREC SPY

A Company Warth Capying

proualy providing the North
Shore Community with the
ultimate in copier and facsimile

| salas and service since 1969