Thirty years. That’s how long it’s taken to get the new main library this far, and it still won’t open for several more months. The ambitions of multiple library boards, library CEOs, city councils, and patrons will finally be realized this year after three decades of debate, negotiation and preparation, but at the end of this long road, can the new main library deliver on the hype and will it be the good news story downtown Guelph needs exactly when it needs it the most?

Back at the turn of the century,  the plan was to buy the old post office on upper Wyndham and renovate that. The whole project was going to cost $10.5 million for a 80,000 square foot building, and it was well on it’s way to becoming reality when a more conservative mayor and council put the kibosh on all that progress and it was back to the drawing board. (If you’re interested in the full timeline, it’s an 88-page document on the Library’s website.)

More recently, the $67.1 million library project was approved in 2019 for the Baker District Redevelopment, but there was some further fiddling in the fall of 2020 that solidified the project as it exists now. Despite all the wonderful aspects of the project though there’s still questions about whether it will meet all the expectations put upon it. So as we enter this pivotal year, is the library staff ready to meet the challenges that come after the building is open?

For this first pod of the year, we’re joined by two of those staff members, CEO Dan Atkins and manager of public services Meg Forestell-Page. They will talk about the progress on the new building’s construction, and the progress on planning for all the new programs that will take place there. They will also talk about the impact on the other library branches, the fate of the current main library, and how the new building will continue to serve as a community hub for the people most in need.

So let’s look forward again to the new library on this additional episode of the Guelph Politicast!

The new main library is scheduled to open sometime later this year in the fall. To learn more about what to expect and review the progress so far, you can go to the library’s website. and you can learn more about the entire Baker District Redevelopment at the City of Guelph’s website. If you missed it yesterday, you can still listen to the first What’s Next ‘26 podcast about the South End Community Centre.

The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn and Spotify .

Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.