The future of Ottawa’s central library should run through Halifax
By JOANNE CHIANELLO, The Ottawa Citizen October 19, 2011
HALIFAX — When June rolls around, we’ll all want to take a look at Halifax.
That’s when a report will tell us whether the building that houses the main branch of the Ottawa Public Library is toast or can be salvaged into something fit for modern consumption.
Whatever the findings, that’s when we must speak up about what we want our most public of library locations to be. And there’s no better way to do that than to take a page from Halifax’s book.
Let’s assume we all know how circulation and foot-traffic has been growing at all Canadian city libraries, including Ottawa’s. (For that we can thank Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who shone the spotlight on the importance of public libraries in quite an inadvertent way.)
And let’s put aside, for a moment, our envy of Halifax’s $55-million modernist library that will offer views of both the harbour and the Citadel. We all know we need funds and a location to build a new central library. Halifax, which has been talking about building a new central library since the late 1980s, got a little lucky with both.
What we should be paying the most attention to in the story that is the Halifax library project is its consultation process.
Sounds so Ottawa, doesn’t it, being impressed with consultations?
And yet, the way Halifax conducted them is like nothing most cities have ever experienced. The consultations are already considered a case study in public engagement.
What we call public consultations are really information sessions for the most part: Organization presents plan to public, public stands up and protests, organization goes ahead with plan anyway.
In Halifax, the public participation started before there was a plan. That’s right, no plan.
Instead, the library, together with consultants and an architect, asked people what they wanted in a new central library. And they seemed to really want to know.
The answers aren’t what you might expect.
“We were surprised at the strength of the message that people wanted public space for social interaction,” says Susan McLean, the deputy CEO of the Halifax Public Library.
Hundreds of Haligonians packed meeting rooms, brainstormed and told officials they wanted a space that was welcoming and comfortable, had lots of light and was built to a human scale.
The biggest surprise? “They told us they wanted a building that was ‘out there,’” says McLean.
Well, they got it. The Danish architecture company Schmidt Hammer Lassen, in partnership with local firm Fowler Bauld & Mitchell, are building a five-storey glass box, delivering natural light in a big way.
It’s because of that public input that Halifax’s new central library, slated for an early 2014 opening, will have a multi-purpose “city space” that can be used for anything from public meetings, to mini-blues concerts (with audience interaction), to author events. It’s why it’ll have children and teen areas that will include a recording studio, and comfy places to chat and hang out with friends. (Not the floor if you’re looking for the tomb-like silence we used to associate with libraries.)
There’ll be a computer lab, spaces for English language and literacy classes, and meeting rooms suitable for a business tete-a-tete or for highschool students working on a project. Of course, tables and study carrolls and comfortable reading areas will be found on each level.
The top floor hangs over the rest of the building, which was originally supposed to house the library’s offices. But when the public realized what spectacular views the top floor would have, they balked. Now the fifth floor will be more a long living room, with a cafe on one end and a terrace. The offices are scattered thoughout the other levels.
McLean says Halifax would never have had this unique and exciting a library – or perhaps any library at all – if it wasn’t for the public consultation that allowed people to feel like they owned the project.
“People thanked us after each meeting. They had a great time!”
That’s not to say that every single person was thrilled with the way it turned out. That’s not what democracy’s about. It’s about engaging in what kind of city you want, beyond just casting a ballot.
Democracy isn’t free, either.
The first stage of the building program cost almost $500,000, including hiring an architect who could guide the discussions and properly price the project, so council and the public would know what they were up against in building their dream library.
But democracy doesn’t have to take forever, either. There’s a sense among some Ottawa circles that we just talk and talk and talk, but never do anything. That’s sometimes true, but it doesn’t have to be. The Halifax consultations took about three months in the first stage, and another five or so in the second stage when the library was actually being designed.
And that’s what we have to remember this summer, when we’ll have some important decisions to make.
The city is doing its due diligence on our central library – for which we should give them their due. But after we find out the true condition of our woeful main branch, which amazingly sees 3,000 people go through its door each day, it will be time for action.
If it can be expanded and improved, great. If the library needs a new home, then let’s find one. Money isn’t negligible, but it’s not an insurmountable obstacle either. Consider that through the stimulus program, the city spent $90 million on two road projects in the west end, years ahead of schedule.
Whatever happens, council, do nothing till you hear from us.
Prev
Have they started pouring any concrete?
Linear Mode
