By Margaret Brown
The main branch of the Ottawa Public Library is too small, inaccessible and aging, but the earliest the building can be replaced is 2005.
Aly N. Alibhai, chair of the sub-committee of the board responsible for a new main library, says the city needs a new main branch “very badly.”
As a result, city council has approved a $250,000 grant to assess the need for a new branch.
But the library board’s 2002 operating budget puts the new South Central District library as a “number one facility development priority.”
Site selection for the South library is already under way, but the new main branch is “quite a bit further down the road,” says Elisabeth Arnold, councillor for Somerset ward and library board member. “The time frame hasn’t come forward to the board yet.”
Alibhai says the South library has priority because it’s been on the books longer and is just as necessary.
In the meantime, the main library at the corner of Metcalfe and Laurier suffers through the same old problems.
“What we know is that the old library is not big enough and it doesn’t work, that is relatively clear. Even the old Ottawa Public Library knew they had trouble serving their population with it, and we’ve just doubled that population with the new city,” says George Skarzynski, manager for library services East.
Until there is a new library, “we will just cope with the lack of space,” says city librarian Barbara Clubb.
“We will do anything in our power to make this place functional as possible, but we don’t want to sink a lot of money into a place we’re going to be leaving in a few years,” adds Clubb.
For now investments are being spent on maintenance and possibly a plan to make the entrance more accessible.
“There is a very circuitous way for people to get access but it certainly isn’t within existing building codes or in any way adequate,” says Arnold.
There has been limited progress toward the goal of a new library. The board has set up a committee to work on the project and they hope to have a manager and timetable this year.
The research fund has already been approved by the health, recreation and social services committee, but could still be rejected in the final budget.
If city council approves the research budget the money will be spent on identifying locations, size, design and cost of the project. Alibhai says there will also be opportunity for public input before any decisions are made.
Alibhai describes his vision of the new library: “We are looking at the potential for private-public partnerships. The idea here, is that this would be part of something that is going to be a cultural gathering place, that may have a commercial element to it.”