Bill Ptacek, Calgary Public Library’s New Director, Profiled in Newspaper Article

Note: Bill Ptacek took over as the Calgary Public Library’s director on Feb. 1st. In mid-December we learned and posted that Ptacek was leaving the King County Library System (Washington) where he had served as director for 25 years.
From Today’s Profile (via Calgary Herald):

“The more I heard about what was going on in Calgary, the more interested I got, and especially when I heard about the mayor and what the city was doing and the commitment to the new Central Library and the way the community was growing.
“I felt Calgary had a vision for its growth and I got excited about that and how the library can be a part of that,” Ptacek said.
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“We were the busiest libraries for downloading e-books in all of North America. I think that’s an indication of the technologically competent community we are serving here. But I also think it is a reflection that we have been attuned to what people are doing and what direction they are going in and trying to provide that content as much as possible,” he said
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Much has changed but Ptacek believes libraries are more relevant than ever in the digital revolution.
“As I talk to my colleagues across North America there are certainly some with communities in trouble and you are always competing with the other civic services, but I think generally if libraries can create a vision that they are part of the community, a place where people can come together over ideas, I think that concept is not alien to modern life.

Read the Complete Article

More About the Calgary Public Library

On November 3rd,  we posted about the two firms selected to design the new library facility.
In February, we shared several of items about plans for the new library including the full text of the master plan.
Also, CPL’s current Central Library experienced a devastating flood in June.
Here are two other items about the Calgary Public Library from 2013.
1. Chinese State-Owned CNOOC Makes Largest-ever Donation to Calgary Public Library (September 14, 2013)
2. Get to Know Calgary Public Library’s Free Early Literacy App “Grow a Reader”, Free for iPad and iPhone (March 27, 2013) 

Filed under: Libraries, News, Public Libraries