Article content
Grab a good book and get ready for story time: libraries in Ottawa’s rural communities will soon be extending their hours and offering more programming, particularly for young families.
Beginning in March 2025, the Ottawa Public Library will be adding 39 operational hours across eight rural branches, including libraries in Greely, Richmond, Metcalfe Village, North Gower, Osgoode, Constance Bay, Munster and Vernon.
Article content
The new operating hours will be announced early next year.
“Since amalgamation, rural branches have had inconsistent hours, interrupted hours of service, and limited capacity for programming,” OPL said in a statement, and earlier this year, the library’s board of directors directed staff to review rural branch hours.
The goal was to ensure that branches of similar size and populations have comparable opening hours and services, the statement says.
“The increased rural service hours represent a step forward in meeting the needs of clients in rural communities. A move to more consistent and standardized opening hours across OPL’s rural branches ensures more clients can benefit from library services,” Sonia Bebbington, chief librarian and chief executive officer.
Orléans East-Cumberland city councillor Matt Luloff is chair of the OPL’s board, and says the extended hours will mean more time for childrens’ programming, like story times.
Over the past decade, rising housing prices and the COVID-19 pandemic have shifted rural demographics, he said, with more families with young children living in Ottawa’s rural areas.
Article content
“With that shift comes more demand for children’s programming,” he said. “We want to make sure we’re keeping up with that, catering to our rural clients by ensuring we’re keeping pace with that demand.”
The city recently held a rural summit, the first in almost 20 years, to identify priorities for Ottawa’s rural residents. The 2001 municipal amalgamation combined all of the Ottawa-Carleton region into one city covering almost 2,800 square kilometres. Of that, about 80 per cent of Ottawa is rural, but only 20 per cent of Ottawa’s population lives in rural communities.
Luloff said there’s greater demand for services across the board in rural areas.
“This is the start of recognition that rural residents expect the same, or comparable, levels of service in their area,” he said. “I’m so glad the library staff recognize this, even before we started talking about this at the rural summit.”
Recommended from Editorial
Share this article in your social network