Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week's list inclu...
The Regina Public Library is reminding everyone in the city of an upcoming due date, even if they don’t have books out on loan.
The library’s public feedback survey for its building renewal plans ends Thursday at 11:59 p.m. Anyone can fill out the survey online or in person.
It’s the first part of a six-phase process to look at and decide how the library will renew the downtown Central branch.
CEO Jeff Barber said library officials are currently “looking at what that project might be, because there’s no predetermined notion of what route the renewal of the Central library could go down. It’s a matter of knowing at this moment that renewal of the Central library is what’s needed.”
The survey was launched on Feb. 5. A public open house and a Q&A session also were held.
Barber said that as of late Tuesday night, approximately 750 people had completed the survey.
Joanne Havelock, the chair of the Friends of the Regina Public Library, says two weeks is too short of a time frame to gather adequate feedback.
“It would be really great if they could extend the deadline for the people filling out the survey. Give at least a couple of more weeks,” she said.
Barber responded that the shorter time frame was by design, because the multi-phase nature of the consultation process has more public surveys coming, and the point of the current one is to gather input on how people use the current building.
He said that for future surveys, a longer time frame could be possible if enough people were to ask for an extension.
“There are future opportunities and there are other open periods … Can we keep in mind that longer open periods might be helpful? Yeah we can absolutely do that,” he said.
Barber said all options are on the table for renewal.
“The (library) board recognizes that the condition of the Central library and the needs of the city dictate that the Central renewal project happens,” he said. “It does not prescribe what that renewal is.”
That doesn’t exclude or include what’s to be done with the downtown building.
“There’s no decision at all about, ‘It must be this kind of renewal, it must be that kind of renewal,’ ” he said.
The library says the board intends to have a business case “ready in spring 2020 and will announce its intentions and next steps following review of it.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been corrected to show that potential future open surveys could have longer time frames for access. The current one, in fact, cannot.
