The new Ottawa Public Library is slated to open in the summer of 2026. It’s called Ādisōke — storytelling in Algonquin — and it’s not your grandma’s library, or maybe it is. It’s farm-field far from just a library. It’s billed as a place for everyone, to do almost anything. It’s a joint production with three partners — Library and Archives Canada, the Ottawa Public Library Board, and the city. So let’s check it out. Read MoreGary Dimmock explains how the new downtown library will offer more than your typical library: from 3D printers to a genealogy department.
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Gary Dimmock explains how the new downtown library will offer more than your typical library: from 3D printers to a genealogy department.
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The new Ottawa Public Library is slated to open in the summer of 2026. It’s called Ādisōke — storytelling in Algonquin — and it’s not your grandma’s library, or maybe it is. It’s farm-field far from just a library. It’s billed as a place for everyone, to do almost anything. It’s a joint production with three partners — Library and Archives Canada, the Ottawa Public Library Board, and the city. So let’s check it out.
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Why a new library now?
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The Evening Citizen
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Well, for starters, the bunker down on Metcalfe is dank. And the big concrete building has outlived its purpose. It was built in 1974, and its brutalist design doesn’t go well with today’s vision of the city’s main library — notably when it comes to spaces for the big plans the Ottawa Public Library Board has in store.
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“It’s not a welcoming, open space. It’s dank and old and not really becoming of a library in a G7 capital,” said Coun. Matt Luloff, the library board chair.
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Luloff, a veteran who served in Afghanistan, is a big fan of intellectual freedom, but more on that in a bit.
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How are we paying for this $334-million library?
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The short answer is tax money, the cash from the sale of the old main branch, and also some generous donors over the years to the library board. So the three funders are Library and Archives Canada, the Ottawa Library Board and the city.
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Here’s the money breakdown:
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- The city and the library board chipped in $173 million for the library. That’s $113 million from city tax funds and $60 million from the library board. The old main branch, which, while dank, is still open and will be until the new library, which doesn’t look like a library, is expected to welcome everyone next year.
- The old bunker library sold for $20 million and the city and library board split the cash 50-50. This money was used to offset costs.
- Library and Archives Canada chipped in $113 million for the building.
- The city also paid $28 million for underground parking infrastructure and will run the lot and collect the fees from anyone who drives to a library or just wants parking really close to downtown on the Flats. The address is 555 Albert St.
- Good news, it’s a fixed-price contract with top builder PCL Construction. You’d know their logo to see it — green and gold like the logo for the Edmonton Elks.
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So anyone who was doing the math will know it’s actually just under $334 million ($333,249,448). But if you were talking to a friend, you’d say around $334 million.
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So what can you do at Ottawa’s new library?
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Quite a bit, actually. Hang in the lounge for a beauty view of the Gatineau Hills across the river. You can learn to cook with guest chefs at the library’s cafe, or just sit around and have a coffee over a book.
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Or, if you want to lay down some bars, make some beats or record any kind of music, the library will not only have recording suites with editing software, but you can also check out instruments — right down to a left-handed acoustic bass.
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If you’re a podcaster — ubiquitous as a Bic lighter — or someone who needs a pro space for a voiceover, they’ll have that. As for visual productions, yes, there will be a green room.
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If you ever want help searching your family history, well, this is one-stop shopping, only nobody is asking to check your receipt on the way out, and the greeters are genealogy experts. The genealogy centre will have staff from Library and Archives and the Ottawa Public Library to help you.
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Then there’s the 3D printer maker space, where you can use their equipment to make a doodad you can’t find. Heck, you don’t even know what it’s called. Or maybe you want to build a tiny model car engine for a 1967 Chevy. Bring your own filament — it looks just like fishing line — and build what you want. You can make anything from a tiny plastic leveller to go under a patio table leg, or maybe a lost or broken roller for your dresser drawer. Or little toy figurines from the shores of your childhood. All the gear is there, just bring your own line when the doors open.
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“It’s going to be amazing,” said the library chair, who is also a recording musician.
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There will also be event spaces for just about anything, and the spaces include a theatre performance stage rooms, all of which you can rent out.
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So what’s it going to look like?
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Think a lot of natural light, all around the building, through the windows and from the ceiling. Cedar, and a waved roof. Such a detailed design by the leading architectural firm Diamond Schmitt. The renderings say it all, and if you compare it to the under-construction library, you’ll see a darn-on resemblance.
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It’s going to be five storeys tall, and will also include children’s play spaces and spaces for Indigenous communities. It will also have an outdoor plaza with a terrace.
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The details are next level, with drawings of strawberries and canoes etched into the glass for the bird gazing. (Who doesn’t like birds?) The library board partnered with Indigenous communities Kitigan Zibi and Algonquins of Pikwakanagan.
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“The Indigenous partners have been shoulder-to-shoulder every step of the way on this project,” Luloff said.
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What’s the library going to feel like and what about democracy?
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“Adisoke isn’t just a library, it’s the physical manifestation of a promise. A modern space, full or material, technology and spaces that act as an equalizer where people, regardless of their means or background, can access resources and information to better themselves and connect with curiosity, ideas, and our heritage,” Luloff said.
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“The library is the last truly democratic space where there is a place for everyone to learn and grow.”
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The chair said folks tend to think of the library as a one-way conversation, a place to get information. But think of it differently. It can also be a place for so much more, and significantly, a space to create, he said.
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Does the Ottawa library ban books?
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They don’t burn them, ban them, or put warning labels on them. Those are the chair’s words, and our library has the most permissive, or progressive, policy around.
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“At the library, we trust people to think for themselves. Our intellectual freedom policy protects the right to read, to listen, to question, and to learn.
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“That is what libraries are all about, and it’s what keeps them open, welcoming, and free for everyone,” Luloff said.
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Where exactly is the new library being built?
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Its address today is 555 Albert St. That’s the east edge of LeBreton Flats.
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The Flats used to be a predominantly French village and it was hardscrabble, hard-working and tight-knit. Think a hotel and taverns with a railway and a paint factory. Federal politicians thought it was an eyesore, particularly because the working-class neighbourhood was so close to Parliament. So they expropriated and evicted around 2,800 people and hundreds of businesses in the 1960s.
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The National Capital Commission sent them all a letter in 1962, giving them two years to pack up all they had and hit the road. Then they bulldozed the community — every home, every business. Then-prime minister John Diefenbaker’s government looked at the community as a slum and wanted it gone like a sore on your eye.
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Will the new library have merch?
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The answer is yes, and there will be a gift shop. I’m waiting to hear back about the merch details. When I do, I will update. Who knew libraries had merch?
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gdimmock@postmedia.com
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