The Central Branch of the Windsor Public Library will be in a new, temporary home by September.
The library board has approved an interim move to 400 City Hall Square.
Currently the branch is located within the Paul Martin Building in downtown Windsor, however, staff and patrons of the library have been expressing concerns due to ongoing construction within the building of a boutique hotel.
This move is intended to provide a more stable and secure environment while the board continues to look for a permanent home for the branch.
The new space at City Hall Square is smaller than the current location and will require a different service model, including changes to layout, collection size, programming, and staff patterns.
Mark McKenzie, chair of the Windsor Public Library Board and ward 4 city councillor, says the Paul Martin Building served well as a temporary solution.
“There’s been a lot of renovations happening in there, some health and safety concerns from staff, from patrons. And so, we’re trying to be proactive here and be responsible because we don’t want our staff, we don’t want our patrons working in a building that’s under construction.”
He says this new location is fully accessible and has 24/7 on-site security.
“It also gives us a dedicated programming space where right now the programming space is, it’s not accessible. So it’s actually hard for some people to actually get into the current programming space. And then it has the monitored public washrooms, flexible areas for seating and studying, public technology, some youth space and quiet zones.”
He says they’re hoping to move by September.
“We may have to close for, we’re thinking maximum two weeks just to move everything over, obviously. But that’s a maximum thing and we’re hoping maybe the end of August or kind of around Labour Day, we’d close the branch for again a week or two max and then we’d open up hopefully by early or mid-September.”
McKenzie says the hope is to announce a permanent location for the Central Branch later this year.
Rob Myers, the owner of Chatham’s Retro Suites and RM Auto Restoration who is constructing the boutique hotel, has agreed to cut the lease with no penalties to the city for getting out early. The library was slated to be within the Paul Martin Building until early 2028.
He adds that the city will be paying less at the City Hall Square location as there will be a cut in additional costs such as for added security. The city pays between $70,000 and $80,000 a year for security at Paul Martin.