Québec – Thomas Guignard photography

Exterior of a contemporary library, a three-story structure with gently curving glass walls. The ground floor is recessed from the upper stories, providing a covered area. In the foreground are flowering shrubs, a Quebec flag flying on a mast and a parking lot on which the letters DMV (for Drummondville) are painted.

Bibliothèque de Drummondville

This award-winning library combines contemporary design with a colourful reference to local industrial heritage.

Interior of a contemporary library. It is a symmetrical room surrounded by a mezzanine and with large work tables in the middle. A person is standing at the back.

Bibliothèque du Centre Canadien d’Architecture, Montréal

Combining modern elements with a respect for classical proportions, the design of the Canadian Centre for Architecture reflects its mission as an universal archive of the art.

Exterior of a presbytery converted to a library. It is a low, single story stone building with simple pitched roof. It is surrounded by mature trees and a well-kept lawn.

Bibliothèque Luc-Lacourcière, Beaumont

The 18th century presbytery of Beaumont was once a grander building serving as a schoolhouse before being reconstructed as it first stood.

Interior of a library in a converted chapel, wide-angle image of a reading room and librarian's workspace, with low metal shelves and cabinets, tables, and card catalogues. The vaulted ceiling is white with golden details.

Bibliothèque historique du Séminaire de Québec

Spanning four centuries of learning inside a former 19th century chapel, the library of the Québec Seminary is the keeper of a rich encyclopedic collection as old as the city itself.

Interior of a library in a converted Neoclassical chapel. It is a pastel-coloured barrel-vaulted hall filled with small cubicles. An organ fills a gallery at the end of the room. Cross-shaped chandeliers hang from the ceiling.

Dawson College Library, Montréal

Among the first examples of Beaux-Arts architecture in Canada, the former Notre-Dame Congregation chapel in Montréal is now the Dawson college library.

Interior of a contemporary library. It is a whitewashed rectangular room with a barrel-vault ceiling. The room is occupied by low bookshelves and long tables, where a few students are working. Large houseplants are set on the shelves. Paper cranes hang from cables strung across the room.

Marianopolis College Library, Montréal

This room inside the English-language Marianopolis college in Montréal again welcomes its library after serving as a chapel for a religious congregation.

Interior of a large neoclassical chapel. The main part of the room is used as a meeting space, with movable chairs, while the front is closed off by a glass wall and contains a library.

Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, Montréal

Long hidden behind drab ceiling tiles, the unveiling of the former chapel at Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf in Montréal in 2004 also marked the renaissance of one of the oldest libraries on the continent.

Interior of a modern library, with a service counter at the back with the words "Retour" and "Prêt". To the left is a set of stairs leading to an elevated area with bookshelves. The words "Espace biblio" are written on a partition wall. To the right, an art print representing flowers hangs from a wall. The back wall is structured in a zigzag pattern, with T-shaped windows in each fold.

Bibliothèque la Mosaïque de la Pocatière

Opened for the 1967 Canadian Centennial, this Modernist theatre in a small Québec town now serves as the local public library.

Interior of a modern library with wood-panelled walls. It is a large room with rows of tables and large windows to the left. Students are working at the tables and computer workstations.

Bibliothèque François-Hertel, Cégep de la Pocatière

The library at Cégep de la Pocatière blends state-of-the-art equipment with mid-century elegance.

Exterior of a modern library at nightfall. It is a rectangular building with a facade of thin concrete fins. The building is lit with a warm yellow light. There is snow on the ground.

Bibliothèque de l’Université Laval, Québec

Contrary to what it stern exterior may imply, Laval University main library in Québec City opened in 1968 as a future-ready flexible space.

Bibliothèque Lisette-Morin, Rimouski

The simple forms and high ceilings of the Rimouski public library offer a bright and welcoming space fit for a regional capital.

Bibliothèque Claire-Martin, Québec

A converted Anglican church has been serving as a library for the St Jean Baptiste neighbourhood in Québec City since 1980.