Gatineau's library priorities

After the Plateau library, Lucy-Faris or Guy-Sanche?

The construction project of the new Plateau library is well in progress but the Lucy-Faris library file has not moved for many years.

“Council has set aside (2015 budget) $21.9 M for the Gatineau library network and the priority was the Plateau. That library will cost us near $13 M. After that, our priorities are the renewal of the Guy-Sanche and Lucy-Faris libraries,” indicates Mayor Pedneaud-Jobin, “the buildings are being analyzed and different options are being evaluated.”

Once the Plateau library work is completed, less than $10 M out of the City’s $21.9 M envelope will be left to upgrade two libraries; and, according to a 2011 report by Philippe Sauvageau, these libraries need expansion.

“It is recommended to add 1,678 m2 to the Guy-Sanche library, bringing it to 4,000 m2 and that it become a resource library for the population of the east end of the city,” says the report. The Guy-Sanche library is the library with the most traffic followed by Lucy-Faris.

Five years ago, the Sauvageau report recommended building a 2,700 square metre resource library in Aylmer to replace the present branch which is too small. “The Lucy-Faris library has a lack of space to hold activities. The children’s corner is too small, facilitation activities are limited by the space, the bookshelves are overloaded, multifunctional rooms are non-existent, there are insufficient Internet stations, the audio-visual stations are non-existent and administrative spaces as well as spaces to store donations and equipment are too small.”

According to the Sauvageau report, the floor space of the Lucy-Faris library “must be imperatively increased because of its performance with regard to entries and loans and because of the allophone population it serves – in 2010, 186,911 visitors or 19% of total network visitors; 343,588 loans or 20% of network loans.”

The City’s projections show that today the Lucy-Faris library serves a population of approximately 44,700 residents, many of whom are allophones.

The City seems to have dismissed the option of the Lucy-Faris expansion in its present location, as mentioned by Councillor Richard Bégin on November 10, 2015.

“An expansion in the building where it is presently located would require major investments to solidify the building, and I don’t believe it is possible. I often got negative answers to that question. So, if we engage in the building a new library process, we will need to make a request to the Quebec Government; we must find a site and none of this has been done,” explained Mr. Bégin.

(Trans.: CB)