The public wants more from Sarnia's three libraries -- more books, more programming and more space.
Consultants presented Sarnia council with recommendations Monday, calling for major renovations to the downtown branch, expanding the Brights Grove branch through an addition and doubling the size of the Mall Rd. branch, which has its lease currently up for review.
Councillor Anne Marie Gillis wondered if the Mall Rd. library should be relocated to Lambton Mall.
"Now that we have definitive knowledge that Sears Canada, which is in our mall just across the street, is going to close and a vacant building... has it happened in other places in Canada where something like that has been taken over by the library to be an anchor in a shopping mall?" Gillis asked Stephen Abram, a consultant with Lighthouse Consulting Inc.
"Yes, the main example of that is London where they took over the Hudson's Bay Company store and anchored that, as well as the community college classrooms, for the downtown branch to revitalize a failed downtown mall," Abram replied. "It's one of the most successful systems in terms of community engagement measures in Ontario."
He says the idea is certainly worthy of consideration, but suggested if council took that path that an outdoor space for bike, teens and kids should be included.
Abram says there is a need for more engagement in programs and services for all ages, more Indigenous community partnerships, more cultural and tourism activities and employment and adult learning programs.
He says seamless services between the libraries and school libraries is also necessary.
"More emphasis is needed in educating people about Lambton County's resources," says Abram. "You have nice resources, good stuff, the schools have absolutely no databases at all. In a 21st century learning model, that's insane. The library has them. So, how do we make sure that they get the resources they need so when they go onto higher education or the trades -- which are mostly done with online learning now to upgrade skills -- there needs to be places for that to happen."
Councillor Bev MacDougall wants a five to ten year plan developed with the County of Lambton, which operates the facilities.
"I say five to ten, because I don't know yet what the cost is," says MacDougall. "In the face of all of our other priorities, we always get really excited with one thing, but at budget time the reality pounds home. What we need to do is have a palatable capital and operating plan for both city and county moving forward."
Moving forward, the consultants have recommend a costing study and the establishment of a library board.