Sarnia’s Mallroad Library closing Nov. 1 to prepare for big move

Sarnia’s Mallroad Library is set to close Nov. 1 so it can pack up and move to space being renovated at Clearwater Arena.

Article content

The Lambton County Library branch is expected to reopen at the Wellington Street arena in mid-January, if renovations and the move are completed as scheduled, the county said.

Article content

The move from Lambton Mall Road to the arena is a “significant” one, said county library manager Darlene Cokey.

“There is a lot of administration work and then there’s a lot of physical work that has to happen to move a full library,” she said. “It is a bit of a complex undertaking.”

While the county provides library staff, books and services for its branches, each municipality provides buildings or leased space within its boundaries.

Sarnia is renovating space on the arena’ second floor to house the library branch and the county set aside $100,000 to pay for shelves, a service desk and other furniture, security gates, signs and IT needs.

Article content

“With inflationary pressures, it is expected the costs will exceed this sum,” said a county report about the upcoming move. Any county library cost overruns from the move will be paid for from reserves or surplus in this year’s library budget, the report said.

The new branch will have the same number of books and other materials as the current location, and the same hours, Coke said.

“The biggest change will be the addition of a program room which can also double as a private meeting space that we currently don’t have available at Mallroad Library,” she said.

The county library has added private meeting space for community use at several branches in recent years.

“Mallroad is a busy location,” Coke said. “To be able to have extra space dedicated for programming, that’s a real benefit.”

Article content

The Mallroad branch, in a commercial plaza, is the county library’s second busiest location after the downtown Sarnia Library.

Coke said library staff look forward to being closer to a residential neighborhood, while also still near Lambton College for use by students.

Library users also have will easy access to the new Sarnia Transit bus transfer site under construction at the arena, she said.

Sarnia’s nearly $3-million transit terminal project is expected to be substantially completed by December, said city spokesperson Steve Henschel.

Henschel said most work under the city’s nearly $900,000 renovation contract for the new library space is expected to be done by late November, with installation of heating and cooling units expected in December.

Article content

The new location is also expected to be convenient for families visiting the arena for other activities, Coke said.

There are “lots of opportunities to engage with, perhaps, new bosses,” she said.

The new location will be called Clearwater Library, Coke said.

The county report said renovations for the new branch are expected to be “substantially completed in the coming weeks” and Sarnia officials have indicated library contractors will be able to start work Nov. 1 installing shelves and building the service desk and other cabinetry.

It’s expected the new location could be ready to open by Jan. 15.

The Mallroad Library’s last day of operation will be Oct. 31.

A book return bin will be available at the Mallroad location until Nov. 9. Library users are encouraged to use other branches until Clearwater Library opens. Nearby branches include downtown Sarnia, Point Edward and Bright’s Grove.

[email protected]

Article content