Grande Bibliothèque of Quebec

The Grande Bibliothèque of Quebec (GBQ), located in the Latin Quarter of Montreal, opened its doors with the public the April 30th 2005. It belongs to the regrouping with the National library of Quebec and the Public records of Quebec, called since January 2006 Bibliothèque and Public records of Quebec .

History

1996 : In April, of the talks start between the government of Quebec and the Town of Montreal. Since the central Library of Montreal and the National library of Quebec lack space, the two governmental stages evaluate the relevance to move the collections of these two libraries in the same place. In December, the government of Quebec creates a committee, with in the chair Clement Richard, to study the feasibility of this project.
1997 : In June, the committee presents his report/ratio which recommends the creation of a Grande Bibliothèque of Quebec. Following this report/ratio, the government names a council provoisoire which will define the program of the needs, the legislative orientations and the principles of protocol between the National library, the central Library and future the Grande Bibliothèque. In November, a parliamentary commission on the Richard report/ratio is held. After having heard about thirty organizations and individuals, the commission gives his support to the project.
1998 : In March, a Political project of of the reading and book is deposited by the Minister for the Culture and Transport. The role and the national main missions of the Grande Bibliothèque are specified there. Public sittings are held for the choice of the site. A marked preference for the Latin Quarter takes shape there. The Palate Commercial is chosen, after being recommended by 70% of the participants. In June, the government of Quebec officializes the choice of the Palate Commercial like site of the Grande Bibliothèque. Consequently occasion, the National Assembly of Quebec adopts the law constituting the Grande Bibliothèque of Quebec. In August, Madam Lise Bissonnette is named general President-director of the Grande Bibliothèque of Quebec and six members of the council of adminstration are also named.
2000 : The decree authorizing the budget of construction and the Program of spaces and the needs for the Grande Bibliothèque east adopted by the government of Quebec. In June, the contract of architecture is allotted to a team of architects of Vancouver and Quebec, following an international contest launched by the GBQ.
2001 : In June, the Loi on the National library of Quebec is adopted. It amalgamates the activities of the National library and the Grande Bibliothèque of Quebec, under the name of National library of Quebec. In August, the demolition of the Palate Commercial and the preparation of the site for the construction of the building starts. December 3rd, a first ground shovelful gives the kickoff to the building work, in the presence of the Prime Minister Bernard Landry and of the Minister for the Culture and Transport, Diane Lemieux.
2002 : In March, the Law on the National library of Quebec between into force and makes only one institution of the National library of Quebec and Large Biliothèque of Quebec. In October, the construction of the building begins to finish in November 2004.
2004 : In May, fusion between the National library of Quebec and the Public records of Quebec is announced by the government of Quebec. In November, interior installation and the installation of furniture begins. In December, the personnel moves gradually in his new buildings. The law which gathers in the same institution the National library of Quebec and the Public records of Quebec is adopted.
2005 : In January, the removal of the four million documents coming from the collections of diffusion of the National library, from the collections of the central Library of Montreal and of the lately acquired collections begins.

* April 29th: Official unveiling in the presence of the general President-director Dye stick Bissonnette, of the Prime Minister for Quebec Jean Charest, for the Minister for the Culture of Quebec Line Beauchamp, the mayor of Montreal Gerald Tremblay, like more than 800 guests.

* April 30th and 1^er May: Door-open days. More 18 000 people visit the places.

* May 3rd: First day of activity. Thousands of users take by storm the GBQ. Tens of thousands of books, reviews, films and compact disks are consulted and borrowed. In spite of inevitable computer breakdowns and waiting of approximately 45 minutes to the counter of loan, no catastrophe is to be announced.

* May 15th: Collapsing under popularity, the security services limit the access of the public. Waiting in middle of afternoon, to reach the collections, can reach 30 minutes.

2006 : In January, eight month after its opening, the popularity of the Grande Bibliothèque dérougit not. The number of visit each day, originally envisaged with 5000 people per day, exceeds the 10 000 visitors.

Mission

The mission of the Large library of Quebec is related to that of the Bibliothèque and Public records of Quebec (BAnQ). The latter has the role “of gathering, of preserving in a permanent way and of diffusing the Québécois documentary inheritance published and any document which is attached to it and which is of cultural interest, just as any document concerning in Quebec and published outside Quebec. ” It must offir a democratic access to the documentary inheritance consisted its collections, to the culture and the knowledge and to act like catalyst near the Québécois documentary institutions, thus contributing to the blooming of the citizens. Also, it must pursue goals of valorization of the reading, the search and the enrichment of knowledge, promotion of the Québécois edition, facilitation of continuous self-training, favorisationr the integration of the new arrivals, reinforcement of the co-operation and the exchanges between the libraries and stimulation of the Québécois participation in the development of the virtual library.

Collections

The Large library of Quebec offers more than 4 million documents, including 1 million books. The collections are grouped in two poles:

universal Collection of loan and reference
national Collection

Universal collection of loan and reference

This collection is available for the loan and the consultion to the general public. It includes/understands the collections of the central Bibliothèque of Montreal. Acquired by the National library in January 2004, it count 450.000 books and important funds of reviews and newspapers offered to the public in free access in its near total. Also, new acquisitions of Library and Public records of Quebec enrich this documentation by all kinds.

The collections of the Nazareth Institute and Louis-Braille and of the Magnétothèque, which form the base of the Québécois Service of the adapted book (SQLA), are offered to the people reached of visual deficiency. Moreover, the Collection proposes a Space Young people for the users from 0 to 13 years. The collections for adults are divided by types of documents or sets of themes: acualities and innovations, reviews and newspapers, arts, languages and literature, history, social sciences, sciences and technologies, music and films and a logithèque. Also, there are collections to answer specific customers: Multilingual collection for the new arrivals, the Center employment-career, the Crossroads Businesses and the collection on biblio-economics, the information sciences, the book and the reading.

Even if she proposes documents in English and other languages, the Large library is the public institution which offers the largest collection of French-speaking language in America.

National collection

The National library of Quebec acquires by the registration of copyright, two specimens of documents produced in Quebec. Also, it gathers all it that published with the and on the Quebec, does not matter the origin, and all the publications of which at least one of the creators is of Québécois origin, since the time of the News-France. This collection is distributed between the Center of conservation of the street Holt and the Grande Bibliothèque. The national Collection includes/understands more than 240.000 books of the patrimonial Collection of Quebec, 20.000 newspapers and 550.000 reviews. Moreover, it includes/understands the governmental publications of Quebec and Canada, the national Collection of music and the Québécois patrimonial Collection in literature youth. This collection must be consulted on the spot.

Structure

Localization

At the beginnings of the project, nine various sites located in the quadrilateral delimited by the street Sherbrooke at north, the street University in the west, the street Saint-Anthony in the south and the street Saint-Hubert in the east are considered. Located in full heart of the Latin Quarter, the Palate Commercial was retained for its proximity at several cultural and educational institutions, with the marketing activities of the street Saint-Denis and Holy-Catherine, but especially her direct link with the one of the most important subway stations of Montreal, the Berri-UQAM station.

Contest of architecture

In January 2000, the government of Quebec launched a contest of architecture of international scale. A contest of this kind was a first in Quebec. Last nine people trained a jury of selection:

Phyllis Lambert - President of the jury (Direct and founder of the Canadian Center of architecture);
Georges Adamczyck (Designer and principal of architecture of the University of Montreal);
Dye stick Bissonnette (general President-director of the Large biliothèque of Quebec);
Ruth Cawker (Architect);
Yvon-Andre Lacroix (Managing director of the biblio-economics of the Large library of Quebec);
Helene Laperrière (Town planner and president de Culture downtown, Montreal);
Mary Jane Long (Architect, specialized in construction the bibliotèques ones);
Bernard Tschumi (Architect and senior of Graduate School off Architecture, Planning and Safeguarding of the University Columbia, New York)
Irene F. Whittome (Artist and professor in visual arts, University Concordia, Montreal)

The call of candidatures was done from January in April 2000. The acceptable architects were to be members in rule of the organization which governed the profession in their province or their country. The firms external of Quebec were to integrate an architect registered into the Ordre of the architects of Quebec in their team. If the gaining team came from the outside of Quebec, it was to obtain a temporary license of practice of the Ordre of the architects of Quebec. The jury received 37 candidatures at the end of the call. To pass at the following stage, the jury was to retain 5 candidatures. The rules of the contest specified that it was to have among the finalists, at least two teams of Quebec and two teams of outside. The five finalists were:

Workshop Christian de Portzamparc/Jean-Marc Venne/Birtz Bastien/Bélanger Beauchemin Galienne Moisan Plants/Élizabeth de Portzamparc (France);
FABG/GDL/N.O.M.A.D.E/Yann Kersalé/Ruedi Baur (Quebec);
Patkau/Croft-Pelletier/Gilles Guité (Colombia-British);
Saucier + Perrotte/Merkès Shooner Dagenais/Desvigne & Dalnoky/Go Multimédia (Quebec)
Zaha Hadid/Boutin Ramoisy Trenmblay (Great Britain)

For the second phase of the contest, the five finalists had to work out a draft-concept of their project between April and June 2000. In June 2000, the jury chose the project of Patkau Architects of Vancouver associated in 2 firms with Quebec, Croft-Furrier and Gilles Guité. A special mention was decreed at the firm Zaha Hadid, associated with the Québécois firm Boutin Ramoisy Trenmblay.

Building

The building of the Grande Bibliothèque of Quebec is a design of the firms Patkau Architects of Vancouver, Croft-Furrier of Quebec and Gilles Guité of Montreal. Firm MDS - Menkès Shooner Dagenais Architects (Note: in May 2004, MDS becomes MSDL for Menkès Shooner Dagenais LeTourneux Architectes) is added to the team of architecture in 2002 as in charge of project for the realization, the plans of execution and the suveillance of the building site.

The concept architectureal of the team Patkau/Croft-Pelletier/Gilles Guité rests on three essential components: wood rooms, the architectural walk connecting various spaces of reading and materials used.

The ceiling is out of concrete, whereas the columns cylindrical and are covered with a polished stone rosâtre.

The heating and air-conditioning are ensured by an inductive system, which is integrated in the floor.

The external facing is in particular made up of almost 6 300 plates of glass.

Wood rooms

The two collections are placed in rooms whose walls are composed of piled up wood plates, which make it possible to maintain the noise on a reasonable level, while letting the ambient light penetrate there. The yellow birch (one of the national symbols of Quebec) is the gasoline retained for the manufacture of these walls.

Architectural walk

to come

Materials used

to come

Interior installation

Furniture

to come

Physical installation

Large Bibliobthèque of Quebec has a surface of 33 000 square meters distributed out of six levels.

of the work and scan areas;
of spaces of exposure;
an auditorium;
a center of conferences;
a surface reserved to the young people from zero to thirteen years;
a logithèque;
a language laboratory;
four forming shops;
21 rooms of meeting and research.

She proposes 2 500 seats, 350 data-processing stations, 44 stations of listening of discs and audio cassettes and 50 stations of film viewing.

In the work and scan areas, it is possible to use a laptop. Several terminals in conformity with the standard 802.11b/g (Wi-Fi) allow to the users these computers to reach free Internet network.

The GBQ places on six stages:

Level M : Level Subway .
Level R : Ground floor ;
Level 1 : Arts and literature, national Collection ;
Level 2 : Economy, businesses, sciences and technologies ;
Level 3 : History, social sciences ;
Level 4 : Music and films ;

The level M is intended mainly to the young people, with his Espace Young people and the Québécois Center of resources literature for youth . It is there also a showroom, a room of animation, four conference rooms and the sorting office of the returns. In spite of its name, Level Subway , it is at the level higher than people reach the GBQ by the subway.

The level R contains the counters of reception, of subscription and loans, a conveyer of return of documents, just like an auditorium of 300 places. It is there the section Actualités and innovations , the magazines and the newspapers, the services with the handicapped people, the Québécois Service of the book adapted (SQLA) and of the counters of employment, which are complementary to the Center employment-career on level 2.

The level 1 contains the national Collection distributed on three stages, which account 250 000 pounds, magazines and newspapers in bond with the mission of this collection. It is there also the universal Collection of loan and reference .

The level 2 contains the Center employment-career , the Carrefour Businesses , the Collections for the new arrivals (documents intended to facilitate the integration of the new arrivals in Quebec), the multilingual Collection , the Language laboratory and the Logithèque

The level 3 contains the Collection Saint-Sulpice , built as from the year 1844. With such old works, it is in patrimonial matter and must thus be consulted on the spot. It grew rich with the passing of years by private collections, such those of Louis-Joseph Papineau and Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine.

The level 4 contains the Phonothèque , the Vidéothèque and of the rooms of electronic music where people can try out their compositions.

Directors

Dye stick Bissonnette (1998-…)

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