By Bommy Lee
The Ottawa transition board has allocated almost $3 million to the Ottawa Public Library in its budget recommendations to meet the demands of serving a new, larger city.
The money will be used to set up a common computer system for the integrated library so users can access materials from all branches. If the new city council approves the recommendation, the computer system should be in place by next summer.
“The technology is at the heart of the transition from 11 variously sized libraries to one single Ottawa Public Library,” says Tannis Yankewicz, chair of the Ottawa Public Library board.
The common computer system will replace nine existing automated systems used in the different municipal libraries.
The new system will be more efficient, says Ottawa chief librarian Barbara Clubb.
“Right now, you have people in the same city, working at all different places, having all different kinds of ways of selecting and cataloguing materials, one library not knowing what’s in another library . . . all of those problems are a result of not being amalgamated,” she says.
Centretown resident Sergey Likhovich says he’s happy the libraries will unite.
“I came here from Russia two months ago and I come to the library every day to borrow English books. But sometimes I haven’t found some books that I needed. Now, I will be able to get more books that are at the other libraries. I need English books so I can find a job,” says Likhovich.
Linda Sherlow Lowdon, project leader for the library transition team, says in the present system, an Ottawa resident has to pay a fee to borrow materials from another municipal library.
“(In January) you can walk into any of the 33 libraries in the new city and borrow absolutely free. I think it is a tremendous benefit for the citizens of the city to have that user fee gone,” she says.
Setting up a common computer system is just one of many hurdles the new library will face.
“The challenge is going to be to harmonize service levels. We somehow have to find enough resources to bring the small libraries up, and at the same time not lower the service levels for the larger cities,” says Sherlow Lowdon. “It’s a matter of finance and appropriate funding.”
Pierre Tessier, a member of the transition board, supports more funding for libraries, but says the new city council will have the final word on the budget.
“The budget we prepare is for the council to examine and approve . . . so I suspect the council may make decisions and maybe make some changes,” he says.
The library board must now choose a company to install the automated system from those who put forth their bids.