New downtown Charlottetown library project moving ahead on time

The project that will see the Confederation Centre Public Library move to the bottom floor of the Dominion Building is almost ready to enter the next phase of construction.

The demolition work is wrapping up as crews prepare the just over 30,000-square-foot space for the new Charlottetown Library Learning Centre downtown.

"A little bit more grinding to do in some of the floor areas to level it out, but that should wrap up reasonably soon," said Wade Arsenault, project manager and assistant general manager with the Charlottetown Area Development Corporation, which is managing the project.

A call for tenders is now out for the next phase: work on the front exterior of the building looking out on Queen Street between Richmond and Sydney streets. A new entrance, terrace and seating area are part of those plans.

Arsenault said the designs on the inside are being finalized and he expects a call for tenders to go out for that work in August.

Staff had a chance to check out other Maritime libraries, like the ones in Truro, N.S., and Halifax, to help develop ideas for the project.

He said the larger space has some natural advantages over the current library, including the fact that it is all on one level, making it more accessible.

Plans include a path from the entrance at the front straight through to an exit at the back, with rooms and other spaces branching off from it.

"It'll just be a nice, open, friendly and welcoming space with lots of space for programming, lots of space for community events to happen," Arsenault said.

Expanding programming

Library staff are also excited about all the possibilities that will be available with a new and accessible space.

"We can have a program here, and people can be reading quietly over here, and somebody can be meeting over here, so we are just super excited to be able to offer a lot more," said Beth Clinton, regional librarian who covers libraries in the central part of the province, including the Confederation Centre Public Library.

"Programming is one of the things that libraries are becoming much more into, doing a lot more of, and this will make it much easier for us to expand our programming."

Clinton said the extra space will also allow them to increase the overall size of the collection, not just in terms of books, but with things like musical instruments and snowshoes.

"Right now, we're limited in terms of storage, so when we're looking at adding more guitars or something to the collection, we really have to look carefully at where do we even put them?" Clinton said.

"It'll just be a lot more we'll be able to offer from this location."

It will also allow the library to offer a maker space, which will include things like 3D printers.

"It should be great to have the dedicated space so you don't have to be setting it up, taking it down, setting it up, taking down. It will just be there for you," said Clinton. 

"It just gives them an opportunity to see these things everyone's talking about, where they may not get a chance anywhere else."

'Rejuvenation efforts'

In a emailed statement, officials with the Confederation Centre of the Arts said they are "excited for the new, state-of-the-art Library Learning Centre, an important part of ongoing rejuvenation efforts for the downtown core."

A request for proposals or conceptual designs has been issued for the space in the centre where the library currently is.

Clinton said the move is still a ways away, but it is good to see the progress happening on the new space.

"It's just unbelievably exciting for me, and the staff here are really pumped about getting this new space and being able to offer better access and services to all of the patrons that we've been missing during all of this COVID-19."

The project is scheduled to be complete in the summer of 2021.

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