Donald Teuma-Castelletti
BRISTOL July 21, 2018
The Bristol Library will be experiencing some significant overhauls in the near future, allowing for expanded service hours and more resources once it’s been moved to the new location.
Nearly $95,000 in funding has been announced for the library, with equal parts invested by the federal, provincial and municipal levels of government, at a press conference on Saturday afternoon.
“The Government of Canada kows that investing in cultural infrastructure promotes community development and economic growth,” said Pontiac MP Will Amos, in a press release. “By providing a larger renovated space, the Bristol library will be able to improve its services for residents and more fully meet its educational and social mandates.”

Bristol council members were joined by Amos and Pontiac MNA and Minister of Transport, Sustainable Mobility and Transport Electrification André Fortin in the council chambers to share the news, as well as details on what this means for the library.
Presently, town hall and the library share the same room, divided by filing cabinets, which can be uncomfortable for visitors attempting to read and study quietly. This expansion will help alleviate such annoyances, while offering more services to guests.
“The sitting chambers of the municipality will be back at the front and it will be a lot easier for you guys to deal with citizens without having people who are simply attending the library listen in or hearing conversations unwillingly,” said Fortin, during the announcement.
The library will grow to 81 sq. m. and will reside in the back portion of the town hall, where the council chambers currently inhabit.
Construction for this rearrangement will include much interior work, plus electrical and mechanical upgrades. When all is said and done, the library will boast its own, separate entrance, a children’s area, and extended hours of service.
“From a public access standpoint, it certainly makes a lot more sense – you want your library to be a more private space where people can read and work and do that quietly, and you want your chamber to be as public as possible, so having it up front seems to be certainly worthwhile,” said Fortin.
Amos said that the Bristol Library’s renovations have been one of the municipality’s focuses and that this project was one put forward by the council as being of great importance to them.
Each level of government will provide over $31,000 to the renovations. On the federal and provincial level, the money will come from the Small Communities Fund, a joint program tasked with providing financial support to municipalities with fewer then 100,000 residents in areas of enhancing cultural, sports, recreational and tourism properties.
“I would like to thank the two orders of government for their support of our library renovations, which will provide users with a more welcoming user-friendly environment,” said Bristol Mayor Brent Orr, in a press release. “This project will also make it easier for people to access this importance cultural facility.”