Fraser-Hickson's old Kensington Avenue location (Photo by: FraserFriends)

Montreal’s historic Fraser-Hickson Library, established in 1881, will soon re-open its doors to readers after having closed down last year. The venerable library was forced to sell its iconic Kensington Avenue building in February 2007 due to financial constraints and the inability to secure adequate long-term funding. Fraser-Hickson, one of the most prominent English-language institutions in Montreal, has long served the culturally diverse Borough of Notre Dame de Grâce (NDG) and will resume its mission, once it moves to its new Sherbrooke Street location. The Fraser-Hickson Library’s 105,000 book and video collection will be housed at the Trinity Memorial Anglican Church, a heritage building dating back to 1926. The new library will be located in the church’s lower level and an extension will eventually be built. The project is expected to have a price tag of nearly $6 million and once the initial phase has been completed, library users will have access to an area encompassing 19,000 square feet.

If everything goes according to plan, John Dinsmore, Fraser-Hickson’s chairman, expects that the library will re-open in the second half of 2009. Michael Applebaum, mayor of Côte des Neiges-Notre Dame de Grâce, told journalists that he was pleased to hear that Fraser-Hickson would remain in the borough. Applebaum also observed that the library now has a „great plan and a great place.”

Yet the new location at the corner of Sherbrooke and Marlowe, and near the municipal boundary between Montreal and Westmount, is a lengthy 30 to 40 minute walk from the original Kensington Avenue neighbourhood. The library was frequently used by English schools in the area, as well as seniors living nearby. In many ways, Fraser-Hickson has always been much more than „just” a library. Fraser-Hickson served as a community centre, attracting high school students who used the tens of thousands of books for their school project, or simply enjoyed the library’s safe, multicultural and welcoming environment. Residents of all ages could sign up for computer courses, browse through a rich selection of newspapers and periodicals or access the library’s vintage video collection. The library also offered a special mobile book lending service for shut-ins. For years, one of Fraser-Hickson’s most popular events was its annual book sale and street fair, where locals could browse through thousands of books for sale.

Perhaps it was this sense of community that attracted volunteers of all ages to help keep the library afloat when a financial crisis threatened to shut it down, as well as a dedicated group of supporters who petitioned the borough and municipal authorities for more funding as closure loomed. Fraser Friends, a grassroots community organization based in NDG, collected more than 13,000 signatures as part of a petition that called on Montreal and the borough to save Fraser-Hickson, one of only two English libraries in Notre Dame de Grâce. This campaign was led by local resident Raj Ramtuhol, who petitioned Montreal Mayor Gérard Tremblay’s administration through open letters, a series of e-mails, faxes and protests.

As Fraser-Hickson prepares to re-open next year at the new Trinity Memorial location, Dinsmore noted that the library’s endowment currently stands at around $3 million and he expects that the institution’s annual operating costs may reach around $550,000. The borough will likely cover some of these annual costs, but Applebaum noted that the precise amount has yet to be determined.

Canadian Hungarian Journal