Plans are in motion for a new Central Library after Mayor Jim Watson indicated support for the project.
In addition to the $405,000 in repairs to the Main Library outlined in the library’s 2015 draft budget, $240,000 in capital assets has been approved for the Main Library Project.
Elaine Condos, division manager of the Central Library Project, says the $240,000 will go towards planning.
“Last July, the Ottawa Public Library board got approval to look into a new 130,000 sq.-ft. (main branch) on a new site. Right now, we’re working on getting information to the board with a recommended approach. The funding will be used to advance that planning work,” Condos says.
Planning is underway to consider the best of the five options, only one of which would include the construction of a new central library at an as yet unidentified downtown location. The planning team will pass along their recommendation to the Ottawa Public Library board in May.
The five options on the table are: renewal of the current Main branch at Metcalfe Street and Laurier Avenue; renovation of the existing structure to include a minor expansion; renovation of the current building to include major expansions; new building on a new location yet to be determined; and keeping the status quo.
Condos says there is no favoured option at this time.
To distinguish the current library from the new plan, the Main Library is the existing library at 120 Metcalfe Street, while the library of the future is referred to as the Central Library.
Tim Tierney, chair of the Ottawa Public Library Board, says that the Main Library isn’t really functional at this point.
“We call it the bunker because nothing works in there,” Tierney says. “On the second and third floors, you can’t text or receive emails because it’s a big concrete bunker. There’s too many issues in the existing facility so automatically having a new facility is going to attract new people.”
Condos agrees that the Main Library has significant flaws.
“When it opened in 1974, there were no computers. It was built for a book-based service delivery model, where libraries were really warehouses for inventory of book collections,” she says.
“We know that the status quo for the existing Main Library is just not acceptable. We have a building that can’t support the delivery of modern library services and we need a way forward so that the residents and workers in Centretown have access to the kind of library services that they need. It’s important because libraries have evolved and library services have evolved.”
Condos says the Beaverbrook library branch in Kanata is the closest prototype for what the Central Library would be like.
“It’s very different from a traditional library – we’ve got public art in there, the staff are moving around to come serve you (so) you don’t have to go to a fixed desk, (and) we have meeting room and study rooms,” she says.
Watson expressed his clear support for the idea of a new library in his 2014 election campaign.
He continued showing that support in his annual State of the City speech .
“In 2015, we will embark on a new project… A new central library,” he said.
One of the first steps, Watson said, is to gather public input. Watson and Tierney, the leaders of a new library solution, will host a public engagement meeting in March.
A date for the meeting has not been announced.