Vancouver Public Library continued to occupy the Hastings and Main site until the opening of a new central library at 750 Burrard Street in 1957. The move from the Carnegie site to the new location at 750 Burrard began in mid-October 1957, and the official opening of the new library was held on 1 November 1957. The library remained at the Burrard building until 22 April 1995, when it closed in preparation for the move to a new location at Library Square (350 West Georgia Street). The central branch opened in Downtown Vancouver on 26 May 1995 and cost CAD $106.8 million to build. In September 2009, the library cancelled a room booking made by the group Exit International to hold a workshop by Philip Nitschke about assisted suicide. The cancellation came despite months of negotiation between Exit and library administration. The library stated that it had received a legal opinion stating the workshop as described could contravene Canada's Criminal Code, but would not make the opinion public. The workshop was held at Vancouver's Unitarian Church. "Whatever the reasons of the library were, it's obviously not affecting the decision by the Unitarian Church," Dr. Nitschke said. David Eby, executive director of the BC Civil Liberties Association, which failed to get the ban lifted, said "Usually, librarians are our closest allies in this free-speech debate." City librarians George Pollay (1887–1890) James Edwin Machin (1892–1910) Alfred E. Goodman (1910) Robert Waite Douglas, city librarian (1911–1924) Edgar Stewart Robinson, director (1924–1957) Peter Grossman, director (1957–1969) Morton P. Jordan, director (1970–1978) George C. Wootton, director (1979–1983) Aileen Tufts, director (1984–1987) Madge Aalto, director (1988–2003) Paul Whitney, city librarian (2003–2010) Sandra Singh, chief librarian (2010–2018) Christina de Castell, chief librarian (2018–present) Branches In 1927 the first permanent branch was opened in Kitsilano (2375 West Fourth Avenue). Sixteen years later, in 1943, the second branch, Kerrisdale (Forty-second Avenue and West Boulevard), came into service. Other branches followed throughout the years, with the last branch, the Terry Salman Branch, opening in 2011. The Strathcona Branch, which shared its collection and facilities with Lord Strathcona Elementary School, was removed from the system in 2016, pending the opening of the nə́c̓aʔmat ct Strathcona Branch. The new branch opened in the same community in 2017. The Vancouver Public Library system now consists of 22 branches situated throughout the city. Since 2013, all branches are open at least Tuesday through Sunday.