Canada: Report Recommends a New Building on a New Site For Ottawa’s Aging Public Library

UPDATE: The report discussed in the articles below can be accessed online.
From CTV:

Ottawa’s central library should be in a new building and a new location.
That’s the recommendation of a major staff report to the Ottawa Public Library Board.
It includes the assessment by Library Strategies International that a city the size of Ottawa should have a central library of at least 132,000 square feet to offer all the programs and services of a modern library.
The current main branch, built in 1974, is around 109,000 square feet.

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More From the Ottawa Citizen:

The modernized facility is envisioned as a downtown, community-based creative learning library that would serve as both a downtown branch and provide city-wide services, be user-friendly, accessible and welcoming. It would feature flexible spaces, have wireless service throughout the building and provide the ability for some components to be open when library is closed.
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In addition to the city using public funds to build a new library on city land, the consultants identified four other options for structuring the project, including the possibility of partnering with a private-sector consortium to design and build the new facility on land that’s either owned by the city or by the developer.
When it considers the report next week, the library board will also be asked to approve spending $800,000 this year to continue planning for the project. A new central library has also been identified as a priority in the strategic initiatives exercise, which is currently underway.

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Filed under: Libraries, Public Libraries, Reports