Library’s new site should be shelved
Welland Public Library is opening a branch in Seaway Mall. If I had a library card, I would tear it up in protest.
This has nothing to do with the mall ‘per se’ as the choice of venue. It has everything to do with the decision to open another branch.
In my book, this is a bad move. In my opinion, the library is pulling out the rug from under its own feet. My gut feeling is this could be catastrophic. If, or perhaps when it falls, who will be there to pick up the pieces?
In my book, this is a big story. But it received little pre-publicity: the initial story in local media in February announcing the decision, then one after the fact, under the headline ‘Well and library branching out ,’ about a briefing for Welland city council at its meeting May 9. Sidewalk repair is given more attention than this issue seems to have received.
That piece from the council meeting reported Ward 5 Coun. Rocky Letourneau queried, and justifiably so, the need for the new location. I’ve read and re-read and re-read the six paragraphs that followed and still haven’t found the answer to his question.
In my book, there has been some questionable decision-making by the people who manage the library, the library board. Eight years after closing a branch in northwest Welland in space that it owned, why is it opening a new branch in north Welland in space that it is a tenant?
I don’t swallow the pablum that was fed to councillors at their May 9 meeting. For example, “the shelving system and setup of the new location should encourage users to explore and read …” Huh? Quick, let’s get that shelving system into schools where it can encourage more kids to explore and read, too.
The presenters, library CEO Ken Su and library board chair Melanie Gross-Kerho were at the council meeting as cheerleaders for the new branch library. My impression is that councillors, especially those who backed this initiative, were there as cheering fans. Perhaps a few more should have been there as boo birds.
In my book, a report on how the east-side branch library at Diamond Trail Public School is faring should have been given as part of the address to city council. Is it meeting expectations? Is it pulling in folks who have never visited the library previously — one of the intentions of the branch soon to be opening at the mall?
The downtown main library opened in 2005 as part of the civic square with Welland’s new city hall. In my book, it’s a damn fine public library, one that has me proud, even 12 years after its opening. I was last there a few Saturdays ago for poetry readings, so I do visit on occasion even though it is not to borrow books. Research is another reason for my attendance there.
One other thing has my knickers in a knot:
Welland council has on many occasions expressed commitment to bringing people into Welland’s downtown core. But throwing its support behind a new branch library in another part of the city seems to my small mind to work in opposition to that — it is steering them away from downtown. A safe assumption is that the downtown library even stands to see a drop in attendance over a period of time as north-enders start visiting the mall branch. I hope I am wrong on that. The downtown branch deserves a better fate than being deserted for a branch that seems long on gadgets and gimmicks but short on substance.
I hope I am wrong on all counts here. I hope my worries are senseless and my fears groundless. If that turns out to be the case, move this story from the non-fiction section to fiction. Sad to say though, it is believable in both.
— Lifelong Welland resident Joe Barkovich has spent much of that time watching people. He continues to be amazed seeing the best and not so best in us, but that’s life. Get a glimpse of how Joe sees our part of the world in his weekly column. He can be reached at: whererailsandwatermeet@gmail.com.