The Ottawa Public Library is planning to spend $6.3 million over the next 10 years to upgrade its ageing main branch.
The library board's planning committee has approved a recommendation to modernize the building, rejecting expansion plans. It will be considered by the whole board on Nov. 19.
Planned changes include replacing the 40-year-old electrical system and modernizing the parking garage.
The library upgrade also means making it more technology advanced because it was “not built for modern library service delivery especially technology,” including more e-books, e-materials and e-services.
Last year, the library had five million visitors and nearly 15 million electronic visits.
So far this year, people have viewed more than three thousand e-books and that is projected to double by the end of the year.
Elaine Condos, division manager at the library says that “plans for modernizing the main library would take in to account increasing use of technology.”
At present, there are 357 computers for public internet use that can be used for two hours per day.
There had also been plans to expand the building and add a maximum of two floors to its current three stories.
A building condition audit that was carried out earlier this year, however, indicated that plans to expand the library where “limited” because of structural and legal obstacles.
The audit also identified the large open spaces on the first and third floors, which might have been flexible enough to be used for vital and welcoming spaces.
But Condos says that ”the atrium space could not be easily reconfigured.”
The library’s renewal plans, however, still include creating “safe community hubs, places to meet, study, connect and discover.”
The library board has indicated that the modernization plan must include a significant fund-raising component for the renovation project.