1835 to 1909

YearEvents
1835 • Formation of Reading Society (Feb 12)
• $2 yearly membership fee for residents
• $4 yearly membership fee for non-residents
• Borrow one book at a time
• Fines for overdue books sixpence daily
• No novels or books of moral controversy
1836 Name changed to Woodstock Subscription Library, Membership 21
1837 First novels, those of Walter Scott, allowed into collection
1840 Membership of 60, Branches in Princeton and Embro
1852 Merger with Woodstock Mechanics Institute, Location in home of James Simpson, Riddell Street
1858 Reading Room at Mechanics Hall, northeast corner of Adelaide and Wellington Streets
1868 Mechanics Hall sold for mortgage, Reading Room moves to various upper floors on Dundas Street until the turn of the century, Library merges with Oxford Literary Society
1904 City of Woodstock passes a by-law for the establishment of a public library and donates land at northeast corner of Hunter and Graham Streets for a library building
1905 Carnegie Foundation awards City of Woodstock a grant of $24,000 for the construction of a library
 1909 historic-library
Carnegie funded library building opened

1910 to the Present

YearEvents
1929 Children's Department established
1932 Children's Department moved to separate quarters on ground floor
1935 Membership 3,341
1967 Centennial addition opened, including Art Gallery and Reference Room
1969 Library begins to collect Local History material
1972 Library acquires former Lutheran Church north of Carnegie building and relocates Children's Department there, Art gallery expands into former Children's Department area, Audio-visual Department created
1976 City of Woodstock designates Carnegie library a historic building
1982 Computer terminals installed to link Woodstock Public Library with London Public Library, conversion of card catalogue to computer database begins
1983 Art Gallery moves to former Knox Presbyterian Church manse on Hunter Street
1984 Membership 8,100
1982 Library's sesquicentennial year
1989 Automated borrowing of library materials begins
1990 On-line access to library catalogue begins
1996 Major renovation and addition to library building completed, public Internet access computers installed, Friends of the Woodstock Public Library established
1999 $250,000 fundraising campaign successfully completed
2009 The Library celebrates its Centennial Year