(From left to right) Andrew Meyer, Mayor Bill Weber, Mayor Steve Arnold, Mayor Lonny Napper, and Councillor Margaret Bird. October 22, 2019. (Photo from Bill Weber)(From left to right) Andrew Meyer, Mayor Bill Weber, Mayor Steve Arnold, Mayor Lonny Napper, and Councillor Margaret Bird. October 22, 2019. (Photo from Bill Weber)
Sarnia

Lambton County library headquarters holds grand reopening

Lambton County's newly renovated County Archives building held its grand reopening Tuesday afternoon.

County staff joined local dignitaries for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the 27-year-old facility on Broadway Street in Wyoming.

The roughly $350,000 project included repairs to the HVAC system, a collapsed drainage system, updated spaces for improved workplace ergonomics, a new accessible ramp and washroom, new storage, a new meeting room, new lighting, new flooring, improved building security features, and fresh paint throughout the space.

Lambton Cultural Services General Manager Andrew Meyer said the four-month project wrapped up near the beginning of the summer, but the county wanted to wait until Ontario Public Library Week to celebrate the reopening.

"We wanted to capture that opportunity to celebrate that space as kind of the main headquarters of our library system, which is where we circulate our books out to the 25 branches across Lambton County and basically support that system," said Meyer. "The renovation is not only a step to renewing aging cultural assets, but the new design aligns workflow practices and allows for better efficiencies for the staff to serve Lambton County residents more effectively."

Meyer said staff at the headquarters and archives building accomplished quite a bit of work in 2018.

"The Library Headquarters supported the movement of over 370,000 items circulating through that building out to our 25 branch locations. The work also includes supporting that patrons reservations on books and materials -- they supported over 140,000 in the building last year, and over 28,000 new physical items were actually catalogued in the space and processed for circulation in our branches."

Meyer said Lambton County Archives is the archival centre for genealogical and local history research in the county.

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