Local residents and library lovers attended a public open house to voice their input on the future of the Central Library Branch.
A public information centre was held Tuesday evening by the Windsor Public Library Board of Directors at the Windsor International Aquatic and Training Centre where three library layouts and amenity options were laid out.
Each layout was slightly different, with the first layout including the branch, administration, the local history branch and community archives in one building. The second layout would include the branch and administration. The third layout would be a branch only option.
Earlier this year, the Central Branch was asked to leave its temporary location inside the Paul Martin building to make way for the ongoing construction of a boutique hotel.
Despite not yet having a new location for the branch, the board wanted to hear from the local community on what they would potentially like to see.
Jen Knights, CEO of the Windsor Public Library, says they don't a have location just yet.
"But we wanted to give people a visual representation of what the difference spaces and sizes of the things that we have at branches now, so whether they're coming and they're looking for young adult, or they're looking for older adult, or certainly our branches that have program space, we wanted to show what those could all look like and different options."
Lily Eak is a library employee in Windsor and says she's happy with the layouts.
"Based on looking at the layouts I'd say that layout one is the one that's the most appealing to me, I'd say due to the amount of floors but also due to the amount that the public would also get to access, and it also would be really helpful for people who work there like me."
Frough Sherwni is a frequent library user and says the second layout was his favourite.
"There are less offices and more community rooms. We don't need more offices, we need more community rooms and people can come together. And we use the library a lot."
Caroline Taylor attended the open house to see if the location would be discussed, and says she's like to see the library at the former bus depot.
"It's got a retro building that's been there for years, it's historic. I think it should be salvaged and bought back from the University [of Windsor] and we should be using that."
Library CEO, Jen Knights, says the next steps will be looking into if there is a vacant building that can be retrofitted for the Central Branch, or if they should move forward with constructing a new building.
The Central Branch will need to be out of the Paul Martin building in early 2028.
The Central Branch had been located inside 185 Ouellette Avenue since February 2020, after leaving its permanent location at 850 Ouellette Avenue.