Thunder Bay Public Library prepares massive renovation to children's space at Waverley branch

Sarah Law · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 18, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

Amid an "unprecedented request for children's programming," the Thunder Bay Public Library (TBPL) is readying a monolithic renovation astatine the Waverley Resource Library successful Port Arthur.

More than 10,000 further children participated successful programming astatine the Red River Road determination past twelvemonth compared to 2023, said TBPL CEO Richard Togman.  

"All of our programs for kids are usually booked up done pre-registration weeks up of time, and truthful we're intelligibly not gathering assemblage demand," Togman said.

On Monday, the room announced a monolithic overhaul to make a 12,000 square-foot Children's Library successful the building's little level, arsenic portion of an ongoing multi-million dollar task to renovate the Waverley branch.

"We request to hole immoderate of the structural features, for example, an contented with the instauration that perchance tin impact the children's area if it's not fixed proactively soon," Togman said. 

The other abstraction is being created by the upcoming departure of Anishinabek Employment and Training Services; the enactment is vacating some the Waverley and Brodie libraries astatine the extremity of May. 

Having much country means being capable to connection much programming, seating areas, assemblage gathering rooms and dynamic play spaces, Togman explained.

He attributes the rising demands for the room arsenic a grounds of people's increasing tendency for assemblage connection, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic.

"When we look astatine the magnitude of assemblage spaces disposable and particularly ones that are harmless and acquisition and truly person that bully feeling for kids and families, the room is 1 of the archetypal places radical come," said Togman.

Meanwhile, arsenic the outgo of surviving continues to climb, being capable to entree escaped materials and programming is simply a crippled changer for galore individuals and families, helium added.

"People are looking astatine their pocketbooks and saying, 'well, bash I person the wealth to walk connected extracurriculars? Am I going to wage to instrumentality my kids to antithetic programming, oregon instrumentality vantage of what my payer dollars already supply successful high-quality, escaped programming astatine the library?'"

Project to instrumentality a phased approach

While the Children's Library task is inactive successful the plan and costing phase, Togman said the City of Thunder Bay is pitching successful immoderate wealth acceptable speech successful 2018 to renovate the Waverley branch.

Funds from the Friends of the Thunder Bay Public Library 50/50 lottery are besides coming into play.

"We can't ideate a amended usage for these funds than successful enactment of a caller abstraction for children's programs and books," said Fran Duke, president of the Friends of Thunder Bay Public Library, successful a quality merchandise issued Monday.

"A caller Children's Library volition payment the full community, and we anticipation Thunder Bay volition beryllium arsenic excited arsenic we are to enactment this program by buying tickets for the Friends 50/50."

The renovations are hoped to statesman successful the autumn oregon winter and are expected to instrumentality respective months to complete. However, the enactment volition beryllium done successful phases truthful that the room tin stay open, said Togman.

In the meantime, helium wants the community to retrieve that radical usage the room for a divers scope of reasons — from attending programming to borrowing reading materials and adjacent committee games.

"With economical uncertainty and pugnacious times ahead, I deliberation [it is] truly reminding radical of the worth of the room services that are free, that are unfastened to the public," said Togman.

The Waverley Resource Library is unfastened Monday done Thursday from 9:30 a.m. until 8 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. and Sundays from 12:30 p.m. until 5 p.m.