As the next story line in the relocation of the Trail and District Public Library remains unwritten, the second chapter, which included a public survey, ended on a high note.
“We received 406 survey responses and 66 per cent of those surveyed said that they would like the library to relocate to a larger and more accessible location,” said Barbara Gibson, chair of the library board.
A large percentage of those surveyed also said that they consider the library a vital part of the community, and not just ‘nice to have’, explained Gibson.
This month the library board asked Greater Trail residents to go on-line or stop by the library to complete a survey of 12 questions that ranged from amount of use, ranking of services provided, relocation options and potential new services.
With a time frame of two weeks to gather as many responses as possible, the board members and the hired consultants, were very pleased with the number of people who took time to fill out the survey.
“With a population of 9,000 between Trail and Warfield, 406 is pretty good,” said Gibson.
“I am not up on statistics but when the township of 100,000 in Langley were asked to do the survey, they only got 500 done.”
The next step on the road to relocation, is an open house hosted by the library board Saturday in the Memorial Centre, from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m.
Results from the survey will be on display with board members and a member of the consulting team, on hand to answer questions and gain more input from the public about what it would like to ultimately see in the library.
“Once we have the input from the open house, it goes back to the consultants and they will do a relocation report with some cost estimates,” said Gibson.
“We should have that report around Dec. 14, and then we hope to bring it to council in January,” she added.
“It is a large undertaking, so we don’t expect to hear back from council until February, although I wish it was yesterday.”
Robert Cacchioni, Trail councillor has always held the position that access to the library is an issue, especially for the elderly and families with young children, he said.
“There are a lot of options of how to otherwise use that area of the arena, and we always welcome more suggestions of what it could be used for.”
David Nairn and Associates from Vancouver, were commissioned to provide the library relocation study. Their consultants include a library specialist, architect and planner.