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+--- Thread: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours (/showthread.php?tid=7)
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - JoeKW - 02-16-2018
The 3d Printer in Forest Heights travels to all the libraries in Kitchener, except for the Main branch which has a 4 printers full time.
http://www.kpl.org/sites/default/files/3d-community.pdf
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - ijmorlan - 02-16-2018
(02-16-2018, 08:51 PM)kps Wrote: They did have a counter there. I remember using it.
Oh yes, that too. I just mean the reason for the size of the building was that it wasn’t only a retail location but also some sort of sorting facility, and central point for carriers to start from. I seem to recall that there used to be a large public space stretching from one door to the other along King, parallel to a long counter, similar to a bank. Then later they remodelled, closing one of the doors to the public and leaving a smaller counter. I recall that being done in a post office in Ottawa also and suspect it was a common renovation. I assume because some counter service was moving to other retail stores and it gave them more space for offices/sorting/whatever else.
Incidentally if I remember correctly (not from personal experience) that post office site was formerly the Lutheran church, now at 22 Willow, where the Seagram mansion used to be (also not from personal experience).
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - tomh009 - 02-16-2018
(02-16-2018, 09:49 PM)timio Wrote: The libraries are scaling back on space for books and are becoming tech hubs and providing spaces for community gatherings. Forest Heights library just got a 3D printer, and has various activities going on throughout the week. Central library has so much more than books.
Much more than books, yes. But the new KPL building surely has more books, too, than the old building had.
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - urbd - 02-20-2018
(02-16-2018, 11:11 PM)tomh009 Wrote:(02-16-2018, 09:49 PM)timio Wrote: The libraries are scaling back on space for books and are becoming tech hubs and providing spaces for community gatherings. Forest Heights library just got a 3D printer, and has various activities going on throughout the week. Central library has so much more than books.
Much more than books, yes. But the new KPL building surely has more books, too, than the old building had.
On this note, I really wish WPL in Uptown would expand and take more advantage of such a great central location... it's a bit of a sad and small library (especially when compared to KPL).
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - MidTowner - 02-20-2018
It's smaller than the Downtown Kitchener branch, for sure, but I think it's a pretty respectably-sized library for a city of 100,000.
KPL and WPL should merge under the Region of Waterloo Library, though.
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - Rainrider22 - 02-20-2018
(02-20-2018, 12:41 PM)MidTowner Wrote: It's smaller than the Downtown Kitchener branch, for sure, but I think it's a pretty respectably-sized library for a city of 100,000.
KPL and WPL should merge under the Region of Waterloo Library, though.
I disagree on merger. I love the KPL.. The programs and their attitude is great. I would hate to lose it in an amalgamated system that would now have to cater to the whole Region..
Sometimes smaller is better...
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - nms - 02-20-2018
My understanding is that the Canada Post outlet in the Bridgeport/Weber plaza was the replacement for the central post office in the City of Waterloo.
On a related note, it will be interesting to see how Canada Post adapts to the rise in online shopping. A lot of their current retail desks were clearly designed for mainly letter mail and a handful of parcels. Last Christmas was different as Canada Post was overwhelmed at the retail outlets, particularly when customers didn't arrive in a timely manner (but still within Canada Posts waiting time) to pick up their parcels. If Canada Post still had a large postal station downtown, it could be used as clearing station for large parcels that weren't picked up in time at the outlets further out.
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - Watdot - 02-20-2018
(02-20-2018, 01:40 PM)nms Wrote: My understanding is that the Canada Post outlet in the Bridgeport/Weber plaza was the replacement for the central post office in the City of Waterloo.
That's what I have read as well. Sad thing is I didn't even know it was there.
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - danbrotherston - 02-20-2018
(02-20-2018, 01:25 PM)Rainrider22 Wrote:(02-20-2018, 12:41 PM)MidTowner Wrote: It's smaller than the Downtown Kitchener branch, for sure, but I think it's a pretty respectably-sized library for a city of 100,000.
KPL and WPL should merge under the Region of Waterloo Library, though.
I disagree on merger. I love the KPL.. The programs and their attitude is great. I would hate to lose it in an amalgamated system that would now have to cater to the whole Region..
Sometimes smaller is better...
I agree that merging would be a bad idea. It's not that "smaller is better", it's that each library focuses on its target audience and thus can be more specific.
The region library manages rural libraries and those are VERY unique challenges. They solve it with unique operating hours, pop-up libraries and the like. It's a great challenge and they do a decent job of bringing library services to very small towns. Neither WPL nor KPL have those skills or challenges.
KPL has done a great job of building up the central library, and moving past traditional library services, they have done well in a city with difficult problems to solve as well.
WPL, I dunno, I've read less about them, but they seem to have very strong demand in their new branches, so they're doing something right.
The point is, each library has unique strengths and challenges, unifying them would eliminate that diversity of response to challenges. It's an example of where unifying wouldn't be good (on the other hand they have inter-library loans, so the part where bigger is better (collection size) is already unified).
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - timio - 02-20-2018
At the very least, the libraries should merge catalogues and allow for cross region delivery to requested branch on one card rather than having to travel to the source.
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - MidTowner - 02-20-2018
That's the main benefit I see, and I wish that WPL and KPL would do that.
I use both WPL and KPL on a regular basis (for loans, and also children's programming, among other things) and can't see much of a difference in terms of service, though the downtown library is obviously by far nicer.
I understand the argument about specialization, but am not sure how much it applies to delivering library services. Toronto's system serves a lot of different types of neighbourhoods. Hamilton's has branches in very small towns, along with in the city.
This one is truly not a case of "smaller is better," since KPL's budget is more than three times that of Waterloo Region Library's.
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - danbrotherston - 02-20-2018
(02-20-2018, 02:28 PM)MidTowner Wrote: That's the main benefit I see, and I wish that WPL and KPL would do that.
I use both WPL and KPL on a regular basis (for loans, and also children's programming, among other things) and can't see much of a difference in terms of service, though the downtown library is obviously by far nicer.
I understand the argument about specialization, but am not sure how much it applies to delivering library services. Toronto's system serves a lot of different types of neighbourhoods. Hamilton's has branches in very small towns, along with in the city.
This one is truly not a case of "smaller is better," since KPL's budget is more than three times that of Waterloo Region Library's.
KPL's user base is nearly 3 times Waterloo Region Library's user base, (but probably 1/10th the area).
And I agree that big systems can serve different needs, but I think such cases tend to result in less savings than expected, and more problems than expected.
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - MidTowner - 02-20-2018
I wouldn't expect there to be any savings at all in this case. I don't see how there really could be, unless branches were closed, which isn't justifiable.
It's more a matter of convenience and consistency.
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - tomh009 - 02-20-2018
(02-20-2018, 01:40 PM)nms Wrote: On a related note, it will be interesting to see how Canada Post adapts to the rise in online shopping. A lot of their current retail desks were clearly designed for mainly letter mail and a handful of parcels. Last Christmas was different as Canada Post was overwhelmed at the retail outlets, particularly when customers didn't arrive in a timely manner (but still within Canada Posts waiting time) to pick up their parcels. If Canada Post still had a large postal station downtown, it could be used as clearing station for large parcels that weren't picked up in time at the outlets further out.
Many locations already do that. For example, the DTK SDM location is very much specialized in parcels, both pick-up and (to a lesser degree) drop-off. Clearly it's their #1 business by far.
RE: General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours - tomh009 - 02-20-2018
(02-20-2018, 02:15 PM)timio Wrote: At the very least, the libraries should merge catalogues and allow for cross region delivery to requested branch on one card rather than having to travel to the source.
You can already request books from the other libraries (for example, request from WPL or RWL for delivery to KPL).
http://kpl.org/request