Ottawa’s busiest and largest library could be getting a facelift 37 years after opening to the public.
The Ottawa Public Library’s board of directors has filed a request for a comprehensive structural assessment of the Main branch downtown.
This will determine the feasibility of major renovations, the expected lifetime of the current building and its structural soundness, according to Bell-South Nepean Coun. Jan Harder, the board’s chairwoman.
“Since 1974, we haven’t had a condition assessment,” she explains.
“Three thousand people a day walk through the Main library. We need to understand it and we need to know what those people are doing at the library.”
The inquiry comes after the recent failure of negotiations to relocate the Main branch from its current location at the corner of Metcalfe Street and Laurier Avenue West to a proposed new location near Albert and Bay streets, says senior library official Elaine Condos.
“It’s a larger scale home inspection,” Condos says of the planned assessment of the Main branch. “We need to determine the potential to expand. We need more tabling, chairs, wireless computers, etc. We need to know if the building is capable of being flexible and if it is structurally sound.”
The separation of one of the exterior concrete slabs on the third floor from the interior wall, which forced the library to temporarily shut down in 2007, has also played a role in the board’s decision to initiate the assessment with the City of Ottawa’s infrastructure services division, says Harder.
Despite previous repairs, special guidelines concerning floor layout are still in place, says Harder.
No bookshelves can be placed against the perimeter of the west and north walls of the building, and staff cannot move shelves to a new location without seeking prior approval from a structural engineer.
Centretown resident Genevieve Richards says the Main branch is in desperate need of modern technology upgrades.
For example, Richards, a Blackberry cellphone user and regular library patron, often has difficulty getting service while on the third floor.
Still, Richards welcomes the efforts being made by the board to improve and update the library.
“A public library is an integral part of a community,” she says.
“The library isn’t only a place where you go to borrow books. It’s also a place where you can meet people and learn about both your community and your city.”
However, Richards believe the role of a library in its community is directly linked to whether the library can meet needs of the community it serves.
“If the library cannot meet the needs of its patrons, then people may not continue to use it like they do now,” she says.
Condos agrees: “It is really important to develop an understanding of the building and to determine the flexibility of the building to provide library services in the 21st century,” she says.
The assessment will also include financial estimates, repair recommendations and a property value estimate.
The investigation is not expected to cause any disruption to regular library services.
The study will take six to eight months to complete and should be finished by June 2012, officials say.