Demands for literacy, communities and a 'third place' drive plans for more libraries

Bookworms and families in Hunt Club are celebrating the potential of a new library branch now that councillors have approved the next steps to lease space for a fresh library space on McCarthy Road. But this news is just the latest development as the City of Ottawa works to address steadily rising demand for libraries and local branches. 

As Ottawa’s population continues to grow, demand for library services and programming has increased, says Coun. Matthew Luloff, councillor of Orléans East–Cumberland and chair of the Ottawa Public Library (OPL) Board.

“We're seeing card holders go up, we're seeing hold requests go up, and there’s a rise in attendees at our events like musical performances and children's storytimes,” Luloff told The Ottawa Lookout. “We're also seeing that a large amount of technology users are relying on public libraries as their only digital access point. So, frankly, the library is not just a place for books.”

As part of the OPL’s new facilities framework, staff completed a gap analysis to explore which communities were being underserved by local libraries, sometimes due to capacity or accessibility issues or distance from other branches.

“Throughout the course of that work that we did on that framework, we heard from several different communities that they wanted more library services,” said Luloff.

Through that process, the OPL now has a mobile framework, service delivery framework and facilities framework, all of which are guiding policies and decisions for libraries across the city — including where to build new ones.