Ādisōke [Ottawa's New Central Library] | U/C

[DarkArconio]

On the Internet!

(Seriously, an ebook borrowing collection is the future for all libraries.)

[rocketphish]

...or from the bookmobile!

Library board won't rubber-stamp bookmobile purchase

By Jon Willing, Ottawa Sun
First posted: Tuesday, July 08, 2014 11:11 AM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, July 08, 2014 11:18 AM EDT

The Ottawa Public Library didn't expect a new, shorter bookmobile would be so expensive.

Staff thought a new 32-foot bookmobile would cost $200,000 to $300,000, but when tender bids came back, the cheapest bid that met the requirements was over $400,000. Only three bids came in. The one deemed the best was from Harper Bus Sales and put the cost at $428,532.08.

But the library board Monday wasn't simply ready to hand over an extra $200,000 to buy the new bookmobile, even though staff were ready to take the funds from a couple of previously planned technology projects.

Many trustees expressed support for the bookmobile program because it serves communities with no library branches -- nearly 200,000 residents don't have a local branch -- but they didn't believe they were getting the best deal for a new "library on wheels."

The board decided to delay the purchase and get more information about what's available in the market. Coun. Jan Harder, the chairwoman of the library board, suggested the research should include kiosks, which are essentially vending machines for books.

It woould take about a year to get the staff-recommended bookmobile if the library sends in the purchase order.

In the meantime, the old 40-foot bookmobile, which was purchased in 1995 and due for replacement in 2006, will continue to get repaired to make sure it's road-worthy.

It's a real clunker and has been in and out of operation because it tends to break down. That, naturally, doesn't help the library's circulation numbers.

Another 40-foot bookmobile from 2005 is also in operation, but it's end-of-life is in 2016.

Together the bookmobiles service 23 stops.

[email protected]
Twitter: @JonathanWilling

http://www.ottawasun.com/2014/07/08/library-board-wont-rubber-stamp-bookmobile-purchase

[Boxster]

Why not buy a used one that is 2 to 3 years old? That could be a great saving opportunity and may also be a wise move especially given uncertain future of books as we know them today.

Originally Posted by rocketphish

...or from the bookmobile!

[J.OT13]

Can't we just retrofit a retired bus?

[citydwlr]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Can't we just retrofit a retired bus?

Or, repurpose a delivery truck, like Penguin Books did...


[ Source: LISNews ]

[J.OT13]

Bingo! I don't see why we have to pay $400,000 for a glorified RV. I'm sure we could save a lot of money by getting some handyman already employed by the City to re-purpose an existing supplementary vehicle.

[MaxHeadroom]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Bingo! I don't see why we have to pay $400,000 for a glorified RV. I'm sure we could save a lot of money by getting some handyman already employed by the City to re-purpose an existing supplementary vehicle.

Which would be unsafe, and would never be certified by Transport Canada. Books are heavy, and the vehicle has to be designed to handle not only the increased weight, but also the higher centre of gravity while it's driving around. And this is going to be a one-time custom build, not a big fleet order. That's why a new vehicle is going to be expensive.

[MaxHeadroom]

For the new downtown library, I think the city should vacate the existing site, move the collection to a temporary warehouse location outside of downtown. The building is supposedly structurally unsound, so why it is even occupied now....

Then, sell it to a developer who can demolish it and turn it into an office/condo tower with accommodations for the library on the bottom three floors, and make the building exempt from property taxes as long as the library is allowed to live there. The library does not have to be a monument. Everyone wins.

[Catenary]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Can't we just retrofit a retired bus?

The existing units are just school bus chassis.

I wonder what the cost to completely refurbish one of them would be. They're common vehicles, and haven't changed much in the past 30 years. A new drivetrain and other updates would probably extend the lifespan of the bus a fair bit.

[Capital Shaun]

Originally Posted by MaxHeadroom

For the new downtown library, I think the city should vacate the existing site, move the collection to a temporary warehouse location outside of downtown. The building is supposedly structurally unsound, so why it is even occupied now....

Then, sell it to a developer who can demolish it and turn it into an office/condo tower with accommodations for the library on the bottom three floors, and make the building exempt from property taxes as long as the library is allowed to live there. The library does not have to be a monument. Everyone wins.

That's just too sensible! (And something the city should seriously consider.)

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by MaxHeadroom

For the new downtown library, I think the city should vacate the existing site, move the collection to a temporary warehouse location outside of downtown. The building is supposedly structurally unsound, so why it is even occupied now....

Then, sell it to a developer who can demolish it and turn it into an office/condo tower with accommodations for the library on the bottom three floors, and make the building exempt from property taxes as long as the library is allowed to live there. The library does not have to be a monument. Everyone wins.

Problem is we can't do that for another 20 years because a private developer still has a lease on the land.

[gjhall]

Originally Posted by MaxHeadroom

Then, sell it to a developer who can demolish it and turn it into an office/condo tower with accommodations for the library on the bottom three floors, and make the building exempt from property taxes as long as the library is allowed to live there. The library does not have to be a monument. Everyone wins.

Errr, it already is on the bottom three floors of an office building...

[m0nkyman]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Problem is we can't do that for another 20 years because a private developer still has a lease on the land.

And we renewed the leases all of 6 days ago. http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/finance-committee-oks-new-library-leases

[rocketphish]

Ottawa needs a new library

Ottawa Citizen Editorial Board
Published on: July 10, 2014, Last Updated: July 10, 2014 2:49 PM EDT

Over the last 15 years, the Ottawa Public Library has had to adapt to several huge challenges. At the local level, it amalgamated along with the city, becoming a big network spread over 2,700 square kilometres. And like every other library in the world, it has been faced with the question of how to adapt to sweeping technological changes that many predicted would make libraries obsolete.

Far from becoming obsolete, Ottawa’s library branches are bustling, busy places — not mere depots for borrowing and returning books, but hubs for kids’ programming, cultural events and research projects. As a recent OPL report put it, “For the first time, physical collections are reducing in size, but the most profound change is a shift from a culture of ‘library as a quiet space’ to a culture that promotes group activities. Libraries are now gathering hubs for the exchange of ideas, information and knowledge.”

The 40-year-old main branch is the most-visited, but it is not the best-loved. The brutalist architecture, dim lighting and bizarre accessibility issues make it unwelcoming and present challenges for library staff.

The city must decide whether it wants to renovate that building — and if so, how much it wants to spend. To do it well, the city would have to spend $70 million. Another option, which met with the board’s approval this week, is to look into finding a private partner to help build a new branch.

This is a project worth getting right. If the city does not find a suitable partner and location for a new building, it’s worth spending the $70 million to fix most of the problems with the building at Laurier and Metcalfe. A new building would be even better, but private-public partnerships are notorious for presenting unforeseen problems down the road. The needs of the private partner don’t always align perfectly with the needs of the public. It’s an idea worth pursuing, especially if it can save the city money. But we should not expect to get a brand new library without some public investment, and we should not let enthusiasm for a P3 trump the library’s requirements.

A downtown library ought to be a open, welcoming space where Ottawans can go to research, to meet, even just to have a cup of coffee in beautiful surroundings. It ought to be central; Bayview only meets that test if you really stretch the definition. It ought to be a destination, perhaps even a hub for all of Ottawa’s beleaguered research and archival institutions.

The library has proven it can still be relevant. Now it just needs a central branch worthy of it, and of a capital.

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/ottawa-needs-a-new-library

[J.OT13]

Piece by Urbsite's Midcenturymodernist .

'HAIL THE NEW LIBRARY' - Ottawa Journal, January 11, 1974:
‘The new main branch of the Ottawa Public Library is a stunning example of modern architecture. A standing rebuke to the notion that because a building is new and functional it need be sterile and cold. The new Library may indeed be the most successful public building put up into Ottawa since the Union Station.’
I used to think that the OPL’s Main Branch was a flawed building, not just bad but ranked among the three worst public buildings in Ottawa. Was it coincidental that the other two in that terrible trio - the Ottawa Police Department Elgin St Headquarters, and the now demolished Canada’s Capital Congress Centre at the Rideau Centre, were also designed by the same architect? Working in the Ottawa Public Library several hours a week over the past year has changed my mind about one of the three. The Main Branch is a serious building, a significant landmark in Ottawa’s cultural history that shouldn’t be blown off by branding it with the style that people love to hate. As Christopher Hume, urban issues writer, at the Toronto Star has said ‘There’s Brutalism, and there’s just plain brutal'. Then there is the Ottawa Journal’s lofty summation in 1974: ‘The community’s thanks should go to those whose talents and good taste combined to provide Ottawa and its library system with a building befitting its dedication to the life of the mind.’

Read more on http://urbsite.blogspot.ca/2014/07/george-bemis-public-library-is-it.html.

[acottawa]

Is it an optical illusion, or was the buttugly tower not originally there?

I'm sure it looked it looked great when it first opened, concrete has a great white colour when it is brand new, the building probably looked very futuristic and interesting. The problem is that concrete doesn't age well and soon turns a horrible zombie-grey colour, and brutalist buildings are always miserable on the inside (as far as I know). It doesn't help that the city put ugly signs on it and filled the streetscape with clutter.

[J.OT13]

The tower was built soon after the opening of the library itself.

[DEWLine]

Didn't know about the Scott Building tower being an add-on until after I'd read the Urbsite essay.

[rocketphish]

Consultant to quarterback P3 options for new main library

By Jon Willing, Ottawa Sun
First posted: Monday, September 08, 2014 07:24 PM EDT | Updated: Monday, September 08, 2014 07:29 PM EDT

The chairwoman of the city's library board wants Ottawa to talk about a new main branch, but she stopped short Monday of saying it should be a topic of the mayoral race in the municipal election campaign.

Barrhaven Coun. Jan Harder said there's "momentum" building toward a new central library, possibly built under a public-private partnership.

A new main branch should be at the top of the next council's priority list for new civic spaces, Harder said.

While she doesn't think it needs to be a topic ahead of the Oct. 27 election, Harder said Mayor Jim Watson has been supportive of the library's discussion of options.

The library board will spend up to $180,000 to hire a consultant to quarterback a business case for a library built under a P3. A contract competition for that work is expected to begin in the coming weeks.

The rough schedule has the library board and council receiving a report in 2015. From there, politicians could be faced with a decision on building a new main library or renovating the existing one at Laurier Ave. and Metcalfe St.

The board started considering a P3 in July after hearing that an adequate renovation of space would cost up to $70 million.

Now is the time to decide if the city should sink millions into the run-down building, or build something brand new.

Harder wants people chatting up the potential for a new main branch.

"Get them talking about this because it's exciting," Harder said.

[email protected]
Twitter: @JonathanWilling

http://www.ottawasun.com/2014/09/08/consultant-to-quarterback-p3-options-for-new-main-library

[TransitZilla]

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/0911-col-chianello

Chianello: A new central library the stealth campaign issue?

JOANNE CHIANELLO More from Joanne Chianello
Published on: September 9, 2014
Last Updated: September 10, 2014 7:01 PM EDT

Slowly, surely and — so far, at least — fairly quietly, Ottawa is inching its way toward a new central library.

Few people appear to have noticed. But that may change when the question of whether we should have a new central library becomes an election issue.

That’s right, it looks like we’ll finally get the chance to have some sort of discussion about replacing the dilapidated main branch.

Back in July, the Ottawa Public Library board unanimously voted in favour of looking into a possible private-public partnership — or a P3, in government parlance — for a library rebuild after a long-awaited report from Ajon Moriyama Architect revealed that renovating the existing location would cost a minimum of $70 million. (Consider that Halifax’s recently opened new library cost about $57 million to build from scratch.)

And on Monday evening, the board heard that in a few weeks the city will post a request-for-proposals for a consultant, or team of consultants, to provide expert advice on how to move to the next step: actually getting council to approve a new library.

The consultant will study whether a P3 makes sense for the library from a financial standpoint. The proponent will build a business case for the project, come up with funding possibilities, develop a public-consultation strategy.

It won’t be until the next term of council that any concrete decisions will be made. Still, the possibility of a new central library has never been closer. Why? Because Watson seems on board. Likely cautiously on board — is there any other way, with our prudent mayor? — but on board.

After Wednesday’s council meeting, Watson said he’d discuss a new central library “in the context of the campaign in the next two weeks.”

However, if Watson wasn’t in favour of a rebuild, if he wasn’t prepared to argue to add a new central library to next council’s list of priorities for the 2014-2018 term, then there’s no way the library board, which includes five councillors running for re-election, would be charging ahead with the project.

That a new central library is on the cusp of landing on the city-building agenda is great news. Now the question changes from “if” to “how” and “where” — and these are much more complex discussions.

One imagines that Watson was at least partly persuaded to back the project because of the possibility of building a library private partner, which would be cheaper for the city.

That sounds great, but P3s are complicated and, some argue, not in the best interests of taxpayers. It will be years before we know for sure whether the P3 deal the city entered into over the Lansdowne Park development benefited the city, for example. And it was a short-sighted P3 arrangement signed seven decades ago by the city that is hindering our central library dreams today. We could build a fantastic new library on the site of the current dismal one if the city hadn’t leased a chunk of its property at Laurier and Metcalfe all those years ago.

Then there’s the question of where. Is it possible to renegotiate the contract at the current location and rebuild on site? Ottawa Centre MPP Yasir Naqvi has already made a preliminary pitch to construct a library at Bayview Yards, where a provincial government-funded “innovation centre” is currently underway.

A number of private developers are looking to see if they can incorporate a 130,000-square-foot library into one of their downtown projects.

Then there’s LeBreton Flats, perhaps the most intriguing possibility of all.

The National Capital Commission, and local federal Minister John Baird in particular, seem determined not to let the second phase of LeBreton Flats’ redevelopment turn out as a hideously as the first.

In fact, the NCC is expected to tender a new RFP for the second phase of LeBreton Flats over the next few months. One significant difference between the first and second phases? The NCC is looking for a major public institution to anchor the development.

And what public institution could be more appropriate than a new central library? It’s an ideal location — still in downtown, on LRT, an easy transit connection to and from Gatineau — and the perfect sort of project for collaboration between the city and feds.

With council’s approval of the $100-million redevelopment of Arts Court on Wednesday, we need to look ahead to our next civic project. And a new central library is it.

[email protected]

twitter.com/jchianello