Seeking ideas for new library

Volunteers ask citizens for input on plans

The next chapter of planning the city’s new downtown main library is starting with a public survey.

From now until the end of August, Calgarians can offer ideas for what the library should be.

An army of blue T-shirt-clad volunteers armed with iPads will be at community events and high-traffic sites asking citizens what services they want.

People can fill out surveys online or on paper, but the iPad- wielding survey takers signify the library’s high-tech future.

“We will see that likely physical collections will take up less square footage than they do today, which means less space for books and materials and more computer terminals, more access,” said Jamie Niessen, chairman of the Calgary public library board.

“Technology is dramatically reshaping many aspects of our (operation), and certainly it’s reshaping library use. We’ve only started to see the ways in which technology will enable community engagement.”

The aging W.R. Castell Central Library, across the street from City Hall, will be replaced and relocated to the East Village, to the 3rd Street S.E. block, to the east of the Municipal Building.

It is hoped a design will be in place by next year, and an opening sometime in 2017.

City council has approved $175 million for the project, leaving a gap of up to $75 million from a former conceptual plan. Bureaucrats are promising a financing strategy by next March.

The idea of a quiet and orderly library isn’t the library in Calgary’s future, said Ald. Druh Farrell, who sits on the library board. “They are lively places and a hub of activity and sharing ideas.

“It’s looking at libraries in a different way with a digital age. It’s a very exciting time for Calgary,” Farrell said.

Interaction with neighbours is important. The potential to partner with Bow Valley College, City Hall and the future Cantos national music centre is being considered.

“For us, it’s to become a true centre of community. It will position (the library) as a new community asset for the city and a great source of pride,” said library CEO Gerry Meek.

It is hoped the public survey will help guide planners to make the library more tech-savvy.

“We’re really trying to adapt to the new age,” Meek said. “We’re seeing this as a versatile new tool for us to incorporate within our new services. We have an expanded range of e-product. We’re finding people are bringing those tools into the library in different kinds of ways and they’re actually asking us how do we redevelop that service to take advantage of all those tools.”

The library survey is at www. calgarynewcentrallibrary.ca