By Leah Murray

Library plans for future expansion

Dec 11, 2017 | 3:14 PM

MEDICINE HAT – The Medicine Hat Public Library has big plans for the next three years.

The library board presented its three-year service plan to the city’s public services committee Monday.

Several priorities were identified in the plan. The library wants to be a central source of information about the wide variety of programs, services and activities offered in the community.

They also want to provide resources to people for informed decision making and life-long learning for students and the community in general.

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One of the ways the library plans to do this is by partnering with outside organizations to offer a Life Skills 101 program.

“I think there are a lot of people out there that maybe don’t quite understand how to budget,” said board chair Rose Sanchez. “So, if we can play a role in that and bring in some experts to talk to people and kind of educate them about budgeting and those basic life skills, I think that would be a popular choice for people too.”

One of the other big changes the library wants to see happen over the next three years is an expansion.

“We’ve been talking about expansion for a while, it’s something we think that is needed in Medicine Hat,” Said Sanchez.

With over 12,000 memberships and an average of 22,000 visits per month, the library would look at creating a satellite location by the year 2020, preferably in the south side of the city.

“Sometimes that downtown location can be a bit of a barrier for people,” Sanchez explained. “They maybe don’t want to come downtown, or don’t come downtown as often and sometimes parking can be an issue.”

Sanchez admits it may take longer than three years for that to happen, but they wanted to get the ball rolling.

“We’re just really unsure what that looks like[right now],” she said. “So, we kind of stepped off the ledge and said ‘lets put that in the plan’ and see what happens.”