Halton Hills Library Board commissions library Guru to help it grow

Halton Hills - Halton: At the November 14th 205 Halton Hills Council Meeting, Jay Jackson chair of the Halton Hills Public Library Board introduced Jim Morgenstern, principal of dmA Planning and Management Services who made a PowerPoint presentation to Council regarding - Facility Site Study for the Halton Hills Public Library Report No. LIB-2005-0002.

According to Mr. Jackson, the Library Master plan was done in 1996. The plan focused on a need to address the space shortage in the Georgetown's branch.  According to Mr. Jackson, the deficiency of space has become critic issue for two reasons; the Georgetown population is projected to increase by fifty five percent by 2021, which Mr. Morgenstern pointed out will be around 75,000 people.

According to industry standards, said Mr. Jackson, the current Library in Georgetown should be twice the size based on today's population. According to the Library Board Chair, the pressure from Georgetown's current growth has made it extremely difficult to deliver services effectively. Between 1999 and 2004 our patrons have borrowed an additional 33,600 items. Year-to-date statistics show an increase of ten percent in membership growth in circulation over 2004. The Library Board Chair cited the greatest problem with the current Georgetown location is parking.

Mr. Jackson went on to explain; the board had an opportunity this year to commission Jim Morgenstern to do an in-depth facility and site study. He went on to explain, over the past six months Jim has worked closely with the board and senior staff to produce a comprehensive well researched study.  The Board endorses this draft study for the purpose of getting public feedback.

Mr. Morgenstern went on to present the highlights of the draft facility site study and outlined the feedbacks received from  the presentation. The overall purpose of the study was to provide a facility model for the Halton Hills Public Library and the Georgetown service area. Most of the report focused on building a new library for Georgetown with the Dominion Seed House noted as the preferred location.

Mr. Morgenstern also pointed out that Acton's branch needed improvements in the order of about nine thousand square feet but told the Halton Hills Council Committee that the report focused on Georgetown.

Mr. Morgenstern attributed most of the libraries problems are due to the population explosion that Georgetown went through during the 90's and what is claimed to come up to the 2021 period is creating the problem, he says we're facing today. Mr. Morgenstern claimed that by the end of the 2021 period we'll once again need another 26,000 additional square feet of library space.

Mr. Morgenstern went on to claim we had significant deficiencies in our library system identifying the increased demands placed on the current library services as the main concern. In addition to the limitations of space,  there has been a considerable growth in the use of the library, citing our circulation grew quite significantly. Our reference request grew quite significantly. Our program activity grew quite significantly and perhaps our greatest growth of all, was in Internet use, stated Mr. Morgenstern.

He went on to acknowledge that the Georgetown BIA was apposed to the plan and had produced a petition to stop the relocation of the main library from the Georgetown's downtown Business Improvement Area which Mr. Morgenstern acknowledged was a concern of many of the people he talked to and was the main concern people had at the public meetings.

Contrary to what Jay Jackson and Mr. Morgenstern were claiming, Mr. Morgenstern said it's time to look at alternative uses for the downtown branch that are not library uses, that may draw more people into the downtown and ultimately a more beneficial impact in the downtown overall.