Library seeks council support

Times Reporter     

 

The Strathmore Municipal Library was in council on May 21 to gather council’s support and input on how the library presents itself into the future. 

The focus of the presentation was to provide information about the library and its many services, followed by a discussion around four questions: what are councils expectations and preferences for a library expansion project?; where does the library expansion sit in council’s priorities for capital projects?; what support does council think it can provide for the library expansion in the future?; and what steps/process does council need from the library board as the project moves forward?

“We’re not here tonight asking for money right now we need your ideas and your help,” said library board chair Jim Greer. 

Since 2002 the average number of patron visits per week has increased by 675, and the number of cardholders has increased by 2,524 in that same time frame. Circulation has also increased by almost 5,000, interlibrary loans by over 44,000, and public computer use has also dramatically increased. 

The library now provides more services than ever with things like children’s programming, meeting room rentals, high speed wireless internet, videoconferencing, tech support and tutoring programs, and e-reader lending. 

Despite all the increases, the library’s building size has remained the same and a solution is needed in the near future. The current space is 4,432 square feet, plus the meeting room. In order to be on par with future growth, and to be able to continue to provide proper service to the community’s needs, the library requires an additional 8,500 square feet of building space. A facility needs assessment has been completed and a number of different options were suggested. 

The library board is currently looking at the option of expanding the existing library to provide the additional space. 

Councillor Pat Fule, who had previously sat on the library board, said he thought one of the recommendations in the needs assessment was to not look at expansion. 

Greer clarified that it was not one of the first suggestions because there were concerns about infrastructure problems, but the new board can see many benefits to staying in the current location. One of the reasons the assessors didn’t want to grow there was a worry about mould, and the board believe those issues have been addressed. During expansion there would have to be renovations done to the current space as well, so the board is confident any infrastructure issues would be addressed at that time. 

“The Lambert Centre offers a number of positives. There is ample parking; there is already major infrastructure such as the SuperNet. One of the best is that fact that people know where we are so there wouldn’t need to be any sort of marketing plan or that sort of information to move people,” said Greer. 

Another perk is that it is downtown, meaning they can continue to support the downtown area, and that the library itself will continue to benefit from foot traffic. 

Councillor John Rempel suggested that the questions be left with them to discuss, and that Greer and members of the board would be invited back to council at a later date for responses. 

“The key thought is to move forward on this. If we can have a commitment as to a time that you would be willing to invite us back, I’m sure we would certainly be able to clear our schedule,” said Greer. 

Councillor Bob Sobol had some difficulty with the questions. 

“We can sit here and discuss how we are going to support you all day long, but at the end of the day it is going to come down to dollars, whether we can support you, that’s the question,” said Sobol.

“I don’t think you’re going to have any question of finding seven councillors that support the library, the question is going to be whether the taxpayers can afford to build an addition and until we know those numbers it’s a very tough decision to have.” 

Greer said as part of the needs assessment there were numbers listed. Expansion was ball-parked at $6.7 million and a new facility at $7.6 million. The board is looking at the more affordable of the options, but it will still be an expensive project.

“We also recognize that resources are limited for council, this project won’t go forward without provincial granting, and one of the points that we need your support from is support of that when we go to the province,” said Geer.

The library also knows they will need to do their own fundraising, and already has some seed money in place. The library has also recently received their charitable number and can now step up their fundraising and begin moving forward with that.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us and we recognize that, we also recognize your concerns but we need to move forward on this and we need to (get) a lot of people involved and one of those groups is town council,” said Greer.

Council agreed to have representatives of the library return in the next few months to discuss the questions at hand, options and possible solutions.