We started in 1967 as a small library located in Centennial High School. By the early 1970s, it was clear that the school library was not meeting the demands of the growing community. In 1972, led by the Coquitlam University Women’s Club, a town meeting was called to discuss the need for an official public library. A committee was formed to investigate the required legal and budgetary aspects of creating a municipal public library.
It was not until June 14, 1976 that the municipality passed a bylaw to officially create the Coquitlam Public Library under the Provincial Library Act.
Growing
We moved into two small branches in 1978, Ridgeway and Cottonwood. We added a third branch in 1981, called Lincoln. We outgrew these branches and amalgamated Ridgeway and Cottonwood into the Poirier Branch in 1989.
Then in 1998, we moved our small Lincoln branch into a space in Coquitlam City Hall, renaming it the City Centre branch. In 2013, we moved the City Centre branch into a larger building on Pinetree beside Henderson Place, across from Coquitlam Centre Mall.