READ Rosemount is a citizens’ group working towards improving the Rosemount branch library of the Ottawa Public Library. The branch was built in 1918, expanded in 1932, and last renovated in 1982. It is severely overcrowded and has been on the Library Board’s priority list for branch renovation and expansion since 2012. Rosemount needs:
More space for
- Books and other resources
- Users of all ages to sit down and read, work and learn
- Programs supporting literacy and learning
- Teenagers programs including dedicated Teen Zones
- Literacy programs
- Frontier college programs
- Homework help programs
- School class visits
- Babies, tiny tots and pre-schoolers programs
- Group and quiet study spaces
- Multi-purposes spaces designed for customers to access library resources (print and electronic)
- Community meetings and gatherings to support and foster citizen engagement
- Staff to work
Improved technology including
- Community access computers
- Maker space technology*
- Fully automated RFID check-in/check-out and sorting systems, like other similar sized branches
Most of the branches on the Library’s priority list have been renovated, renewed and/or expanded.
The Rosemount branch consistently punches above its weight (space)….read on.
The Ottawa Public Library is one of the best libraries in Ontario, according to the latest figures from the Ontario Municipal Bench Benchmarking Initiative. The Rosemount branch library is one of the busiest of Ottawa Public Library’s 33 branches. The OPL’s own 2014 figures reveal that Rosemount library users check out the second highest items per square foot: 42.19 items/sf. This is twice as much as all (but one) other branches. This means that Rosemount is busy, crowded and needs more space and service capacity.