Kitchener Public Library - Forest Heights Community Library

251 Fischer-Hallman Road
Kitchener, ON
N2M 4X8

Phone: (519) 743-0644
Fax: (519) 743-0644

Wheelchair Accessible

Please address postal mail for all KPL locations c/o:
Kitchener Public Library
85 Queen Street North
Kitchener, ON
N2H 2H1

By Bus

# 2 Forest Hill/Glencairn
#22 Laurentian West

MAP to our location
Our Hours of Operation

Contact: Do you have a comment, question or suggestion about the Forest Heights Community Library? Please contact our Branch Manager Susan Bloos.

Branch Profile

The Forest Heights Community Library officially opened its doors in July of 1976 and has been serving area residents for over 25 years.

The library houses a collection of approximately 60,000 books and 5 000 audiovisual materials. It is a very dynamic location with an average circulation of approximately 394, 0000 items per year. Forest Heights customers place an average of 1900 reserves every month.

The Library is situated in a complex made up of Forest Heights Collegiate Institute and a city swimming pool. Fischer Park, complete with tennis courts, a soccer field and a baseball diamond adds to the vibrancy of the library's immediate surroundings.

The Forest Heights branch is located near facilities such as the Highland Hills Mall, the Forest Heights Community Centre and Fire Station, Bankside Terrace Retirement Home and Queensmount Arena. Local active neighbourhood associations include the Forest Hill Neighbourhood Association and Victoria Hills Neighbourhood Association.

There is a high level of support in the community and customers of all ages use the Forest Heights Community Library to meet both their informational and recreational needs.

Community Library Services

KPL provides a full suite of collections and services available at all community library locations. Community Libraries respond to community specific information needs through relevant collections, programming and services.

What We Offer

Teachers, Day Care providers and Home Schoolers are welcome to book a time for their charges to visit the library. Children will be introduced to what the library has to offer and will enjoy a special story time and a tour of the Branch.

Teachers can also request an instructional session for their students on how to use the Library Catalogue for research projects.

NEW! Teachers of students in Grades 3-5 are invited to book a time for their class to come in for a Library Scavenger Hunt! The goal of this new class visit is to give students a hands-on introduction to the collection and the location of resources at the Branch in a very fun and interactive way!

In June, KPL programming staff are also available to go out to schools to promote our Summer Reading Club and summer programs.

To find out more or to book a class visit, please contact our children's programmer, Stephanie Griffioen, at 743-0644.

The Forest Heights Community Library needs volunteers for our Summer program "Read Aloud Partners" as well as Adopt-a-Shelf volunteers and an Indoor Gardener.

For more information on these and other volunteer opportunities or to apply to become a volunteer at the Branch, please click here

The Forest Heights Community Library offers access to the Internet on 6 workstations. Three of these stations are for "express use" on a first come, first served basis.

There are also three stations available for use for a longer period of time. Customers are welcome to book these stations in person or by phone up to 24 hours in advance. Sessions are booked on the half hour and can be used for up to one hour per day. Printing from these stations costs $.15 cents per page (black and white only).

If you are new to using the Internet and would like to learn about the basics of searching we can arrange a one-on-one instructional session with one of our trained Internet Volunteers.

To find out more information, to book time to use a computer or to request an instructional session please call 743-0644.

Thanks to a generous donation from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Urban Community Access Program, the Forest Heights Community Library is able to offer one PC workstation available for use by the public.

The workstation has the following software installed: Windows 2000, Word 2000, Excel 2000, PowerPoint 2000, Publisher 2000 as well as Internet Explorer 6.0 (filtered access).

If using one of the software products listed above, customers may sign up once a day for a maximum of two hours up to 24 hours in advance either in person or by phone. Printing from the Gates PC costs $.15 per page (black and white only).

Trained volunteers are available to provide a one-on-one basic orientation to any of the products available on the Gates PC if arranged in advance.

For more information or to book a time to use the Gates computer or arrange an orientation to any of the Gates products, please call 743-0644.

The KIDTECH computer station is loaded with several educational and entertaining CDROMs. Children can sign up for a half hour session up to 24 hours in advance in person or by calling 743-0644.

The Forest Heights Community Library has a meeting room available for rent by individuals or organizations. The room holds a maximum capacity of 130 people. Equipment such as an overhead, data or slide projectors are available upon request at an additional cost.

Forest Heights Community Library customers can enjoy free parking at any time of day in our shared parking lot with FHCI and the FH Pool!

The Forest Heights Community Library has subscribes to over 55 newspapers and magazines. Adults, children and young adults of all ages are sure to find something of interest from our selection of periodicals. For a list of what we currently subscribe to at FH, please click here.

Children's magazines at the Branch can be signed out for a one week loan period. Adult magazines, with the exception of the current issue, also circulate for 7 days. The Branch keeps one year of back issues of each title for customers to enjoy!

The Forest Heights Community Library has a circulating collection of children's French materials including fiction, non-fiction, picture books and videos. Children in French immersion at area schools make great use of this growing collection. Next year, the FH branch will begin to subscribe to J'aime lire, a French magazine for children ages 7 to 10.