Is the Library planning to put a new location into the northwest area of Barrie?

A community survey is coming to assess the services people in the northwest area of Barrie currently access and those they wish they had – particularly for youth and seniors. The Master Facilities plan for Barrie lays out a larger space for a new library location, although the available spaces in the area may restrict the size of a new library location in the northwest. This was the situation when the Holly library location was established – Holly was originally planned to be a larger location. While it may be a small footprint, visitors would still have access to the entire resources of the library system. The library is a valuable community hub and serves people who can come into the warm and free environment, with free access to wi-fi.

Holly is a “boutique” location, without room for programming, but with library visits numbering approximately 90,000, of an approximate total of 500,000 library visits in Barrie in the past year (2024). This has shown that the neighbourhood has been utilizing the Holly library location.

The library is asking for a 1% increase in budget over 2024.

This material is courtesy of Barrie360.com, in an interview of Library CEO, Lauren Jessop by Ian McLennan

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