Libraries expanding to meet growing demands

Ron Seymour The Okanagan Saturday  2011-10-22
Library users in two Okanagan communities will be enjoying new or expanded facilities early next year.  The $13.7-million, 20,000-square-foot branch in Vernon is on budget and on time for its planned opening in April, Okanagan Regional Library executive director Lesley Dieno said Friday. And an expansion of the West Kelowna branch from 6,000 to 10,000 square feet should be complete by May. "West Kelowna is now one of our four busiest branches," said Dieno, referring to the network of 29 libraries that stretch from Revelstoke to Osoyoos. "There are lots of days when it‘s just very crowded and noisy in there," she said. "We‘re finding that people are tending to stay a little bit longer in the branches, using our resources and databases."At Wednesday‘s meeting of the Okanagan Regional Library board, directors who represent the municipalities served by the system approved a 2.7 per cent increase in the tax requisition.  Taxes collected from Okanagan property owners make up 92 per cent of the library‘s budget. The typical Kelowna property owner whose land and house is assessed at $422,000 would have paid $81.59 in taxes toward the ORL this year. A significant new source of revenue for the library system in 2012 will be the Westbank First Nation. Band members have agreed to tax thousands of long-term leaseholders within the reserve and provide the library with $267,000 of additional revenue.  Part of that extra money is being used to finance the expansion of the West Kelowna branch in the Westridge Mall.  New flooring will be also be installed at the 16-year-old downtown Kelowna branch, and a full-time "virtual librarian" is to be hired to oversee the ORL‘s recently upgraded website.