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London's Central Branch Library turns page on outdated design

Kate Dubinski

By Kate Dubinski, The London Free Press

A new chapter for London’s main library will rip out one of the last pages of what was there before.

The Central Library is getting a $4-million facelift, renovations that will begin in May at the library’s former department store location at CitiPlaza.

There will be new carpets, a paint job and upgraded washrooms. But one of the biggest projects will be the removal of the escalators that take library patrons to the second and third floors.

Those escalators are leftovers from the days when the space housed the Hudson’s Bay department store. They’re 26 years old and at the end of their life.

They’re also loud, expensive to maintain and almost impossible to find replacement parts for. They’ll be replaced by stairs.

“This is about keeping the Central Library relevant to community needs by improving existing infrastructure and expanding spaces and services to make them more user-friendly,” said Julie Gonyou, manager for the project and the library’s senior director of administration and special projects.

“It’s time to paint, replace lighting, replace flooring, get a more logical layout and flow, include flexible furniture for creative and collaborative work,” she said.

The renovation is scheduled to take just less than a year, finishing in April 2017.

The renos are being funded with $2 million from the city, some trust and reserve funds and a fundraising campaign that will launch in the fall, said Gonyou.

Among the changes, the Rotary Reading Garden will get an upgrade, including a landscaped garden and water feature.

More electrical outlets for technology plug-ins will be added, and self checkout will now be available on all three floors, not just the ground level. And the cafe will move to where the library’s book store is now located, in the passageway to the mall.

The escalators will be closed off as soon as construction begins in May, so the second-floor entrance from CitiPlaza will likely be opened up while the work is done.

The library may close for a few days at some point during the 11-month project, Gonyou said.

Librarians will be front-and-centre in a newly-designed space that will focus on a “user-first” experience, she added.

“In the increasingly complex digital age, the public continues to need the kind of professional support that librarians have always provided. I call them the best possible search engines,” Gonyou said.

kdubinski@postmedia.com

The Central Library

  • Opened in its existing location in 2002 in what was then Galleria London, now CitiPlaza
  • Was one of the city’s big-ticket Millennium Projects to revitalize downtown.
  • 46.7 per cent of Londoners have an active library card
  • Gets 1 million visitors a year
  • Answered 265,109 reference questions in 2014
  • 1.55 million items were borrowed and renewed in 2014

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