By Jennifer Golletz for CollingwoodToday
As the New Year quickly approaches, the staff at the Collingwood Library are busy making plans to celebrate an upcoming milestone.
On April 6, 2020, the library will be celebrating 10 years since it opened the doors on a new three-storey building. The facility opened its doors to the public at 55 St. Marie Street in the spring of 2010.
“In my opinion, the move seems to have been a good decision,” says library CEO, Ken Haigh. “We are very central and close to the downtown core. People coming to the library also use many of the other services in the downtown area, so I think it has benefited the local merchants as well.”
Within the three-storey building, the library occupies the first two floors. Several municipal offices make up the third floor, including the Parks, Recreation, and Culture department and Building and Planning Services.
“The building was actually designed so that the elevator and staircases could be altered to allow the library to expand to the entire building once that was needed,” Haigh says. “This is still a large possibility for the future. As you know, Collingwood is growing quickly and our existing facility was designed to service about 20,000-25,000 people, which is where we are now.”
He adds the town does have the library’s future on its radar, whether this means expanding into the third floor or into a small satellite branch remains to be seen.
In the meantime, Haigh expects activity at the library to continue to grow. He reports the library is one of the busiest municipal sites, with an average of 900 people visiting every day.
“I know a lot of places in Ontario are seeing a declining circulation. But not here. We are seeing about a three per cent increase in the number of books, magazines and movies that we are circulating,” Haigh says.
In the past 10 years, the Collingwood library has seen many changes. Haigh says the amount of seniors programming has increased and now offers a number of health and social programs. The facility has also shifted to offer more digital offerings.
“We have also really expanded our teen program. That is partly because we did a reorganization where we moved the teen area from the first to the second floor and gave them a bit more of a hangout space. We found that the kids are a lot more comfortable in that area. The circulation has doubled, so that seems to have worked well.”
Haigh adds the library has also become a gateway to the town’s social services, something he never expected.
“One thing that we have got involved in in the past five or six years, which is something that we never thought we would be involved in, is programming for the less fortunate. We are doing food programs, gathering warm clothing for people through the winter months. We bring a social worker once a week to be available for anyone to talk with. In recent weeks we have also begun bringing in someone to help assist in finding housing,” Haigh explains. “That is something 10 years ago we didn’t think we would be doing but there is a need in the community, so we have tried to fill that.”
In order to mark the 10 year anniversary, the library is holding a contest to design a flag. The Collingwood community is invited to create an original flag design that symbolizes what the building represents to those who use the facility.
“We were thinking that we wanted something special to mark our anniversary and there was a discussion about creating a special flag to raise at the ceremony. The mayor has already agreed to speak and be at the flag ceremony and then we thought, why not put this out to the community?”
Rules and regulations for the contest can be found on the library’s website. Submissions will be accepted until Jan. 31.
Once the submission period closes, a judging panel of library staff will select five finalists. The five finalists will be displayed, starting Feb. 7, for the community to vote on their favourite.
The winning flag design will be created into a full-size flag and hoisted on the library flag pole on April 6, as part of the library’s anniversary ceremony.
Haigh adds that on top of the ceremony, the day will also include a number of displays from other town services, children’s programming, birthday cake and the grand opening of the library’s renovated green roof.
“We have been working at renovating the roof of the library to make it a safe space for people and we will be launching that space on April 6 as well,” Haigh says. “Up until now people haven’t been able to use the roof but we have made some adjustments to make the area safe for public use. It will be like another meeting room that people will be able to book. We think it will be a really fun space for children’s programs, senior’s yoga, or even if someone wants to get married.”
