Editor: I am alarmed that Chatham-Kent taxpayers may be purchasing a building that just won’t work to house the contents of the Chatham branch of the Chatham-Kent Public Library.
Has a library building consultant been engaged to study the ability of the former Sears building to house the library? If not, push “Pause” now.
In the Library Building Planning course I took as part of my Master of Library and Information Science degree at Western University, I heard many horror stories of what happens when people unfamiliar with the needs of libraries start building them — they build floors that are not strong enough to support the tonnes of books that will be on them, they leave out adequate space for shipping and receiving, they oversupply or undersupply space for programs, technologies or spaces that may have been big hits at another library, but don’t match current or projected library users’ needs of the this library.
My course instructor, renowned library building consultant Dr. Margaret Beckman, told us good architects always engage a library building consultant to work with staff, patrons and the public in general to understand community needs and devise a list of requirements for the library building. Then the library building consultant and architect work together to turn the list of needs, e.g. program space for baby time, into the building elements needed to deliver it, e.g. storage space for toys, easy access to diaper change and hand washing area.
Once this list of building needs (building program) has been compiled, it can be used as a checklist to evaluate a proposed alternate building.
I especially remember Beckman’s story of a city which decided to move its library into a recently vacated downtown department store, figuring its wide-open three floors would be perfectly adaptable to new configurations of space for library programs and collections. Fortunately, a library building program consultant was engaged, and the city was advised — before purchasing the building — that only the ground floor would be usable for collection space, unless costly reinforcements and reconstruction were done.
Has Chatham-Kent done such a study? If not, save taxpayers money and don’t buy the building until you have.
Kae Elgie
Member, Chatham Kent Authors
Waterloo, Ont.
