Central Library

Plan your trip

Use the Grand River Transit Trip Planner to find your best route to the Kitchener Public Library.

Routes with stops near the library

#1 Queen - River

#4 Glasgow - Margaret

#7 King

#8 Weber

#20 Victoria - Frederick

#204 iXpress

#301 ION Light Rail

Civic District parking garage

Attached to the library, the Civic District parking garage offers hourly paid parking Monday to Thursday from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Free parking is available on Sunday.

• Parking rates - Civic District parking garage

Surface parking lot

Hourly paid parking is available 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the surface lot located at the corner of Queen Street North and Ahrens Street East. 

• Parking rates - Lot 19B

Additional options

Metered parking is available on Ahrens St and Roy St. A limited number of free one hour and two hour parking spaces can be found along other nearby streets.

Parking garages and surface lots are owned and operated by the City of Kitchener. For more information, visit the city's parking information webpage.

Cafe Pyrus operates the café located in Central Library's reading lounge. 

Hours of operation

Monday to Thursday: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Friday to Saturday: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Sunday: 1-4 p.m.

Central Library is the largest library in Kitchener and functions as the administrative headquarters for the four Community Library locations in the Kitchener Public Library system.

Besides functioning as the community library for our downtown customers, Central Library houses a diverse collection of over 250,000 materials and circulates over 800,000 items annually. The library also has numerous specialized collections and services which are impossible or too costly to duplicate at our community libraries located elsewhere in the city.

Originally built in 1962, Central library saw the completion of a major renovation and expansion project in 2014. The innovative construction project received the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification from the Canada Green Building Council. The LEED certification process is an independent verification system that grades building and renovation projects on sustainable practises, including energy efficiency, water savings, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.

In 2015, the Central Library Renovation and Expansion project was the recipient of the prestigious OLA Library Building Award for “Library Architectural and Design Transformation.”

Several works of art are displayed at Central Library, including:

• Flux by Deborah Moss and Edward Lam
• Enlightenment by Jack Bechtel
• Haldimand Proclamation, 2020 by Alanah Astehtsi Otsistohkwa (Morningstar) Jewell

Learn more

A Reflection Room is located on the second floor of Central Library. This space is available for prayer, meditation or breastfeeding.    

Guidelines for use: 

• First come, first serve 
• Single use (children may be with caregiver) 
• 30-minute time limit 
• Use sliding sign to show when space is in use 

Space is not available for phone calls or virtual meetings.

Study rooms and study space are available at Central Library.

Rent a meeting room or Premium Venues space

Looking for a space to host your event? Central Library has several meeting rooms available to rent, as well as unique spaces within the library to host larger events.

Learn more

Reserve a study room

Central Library has three study rooms which can be reserved free of charge.

Learn more

Do you have a comment, question or suggestion about Central Library? Contact us at 519-743-0271 or email askkpl@kpl.org