A novel idea
Plans for a new tri-regional library moving forward

By Elizabeth Soto
Friday October 14, 2005

Selkirk Journal  — Plans are in the works for a new tri-regional library to be built in Selkirk for 2009.
The Selkirk-St. Andrews Regional Library board chair, Colleen Sklar says the building could be as large as 30,000 square feet and will cost approximately $5 million to build. Sklar says funding for the project will come from all levels of government including the library's municipal partners of Selkirk, St. Andrews and future partner St. Clements.
St. Andrews Reeve and library board member Don Forfar says the size of the new library is based on community size.
“The rule of thumb is one-square-foot per capita,” Forfar said. “If you add the populations of Selkirk, St. Clements and St. Andrews you're looking at 32,000 people.”
Forfar said another factor which will determine the final size of the new library will be financial.
“Size will also be determined by who comes in as a partner and what we can fund,” he said.
Up until now, the municipality of St. Clements has not been a formal partner of the library, but at its last municipal meeting, council passed a resolution to become a full partner of the new library.
“This vision (for the new library) includes St. Clements,” said Sklar.
A steering committee for the proposed project has been working on making the project a reality for the last two years. One of its main challenges has been to find a home for the new building.
At the St. Andrews council meeting of Sept. 28, Forfar mentioned two possible locations for the future project on either end of Manitoba Avenue. The first proposed site would see the library built on Eveline Street near the east side of Manitoba Avenue, with the land gifted to the library by the City of Selkirk. The second proposed site is at the west end of Manitoba Avenue and is made up of land owned by the province.
Neither Sklar nor Forfar expressed a preference for either site.
“We're still nurturing both (possible locations) but we are getting closer to pinning it down,” said Sklar.
Sklar expects to announce the exact location next week and says the proposed site will then go to the library's board for approval. Once the future site is decided, Sklar says the library's steering committee for the project will be able to take the next steps which will include a business plan and the planning of the new building.
“People like to see huge steps and so far we've only been seeing tiny steps, but that'll soon change to leaps and bounds,” said Sklar.
Plans for the new library could include access to post-secondary education through partnership with Manitoba universities as well as increased programming and technology to address the needs of different segments of the community.
“Our municipalities are getting younger and more educated and nationally our seniors are known to be readers, so the demographics speak to this project,” said Forfar
Sklar agrees and says the new library will mean more than books for the community.
“People are looking for community connections,” said Sklar. “Besides books, people want programming for kids, seniors and teens and also technology.”
Sklar said the provincial Public Library Services branch did an analysis of the community and its current library services offered and made recommendations which included more books and more space.
“Public Library Services came into the library and looked at the communities and recommended an additional 64,000 volumes and more space,” Sklar said. “Right now we have so little space we haven't fully met the growing population.”
Forfar and Sklar said they expect the project to be finished by 2009, which will coincide with the 100 year anniversary of the Selkirk and St. Andrews Regional Library.
Sklar encourages all St. Clements residents in favour of a partnership between the municipality and the new library to head down and sign a petition which could in future help determine library funding for the municipality.