Bill and Helen Norrie Library readies for readers

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This article was published 19/03/2021 (1896 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A much-awaited new library in River Heights will soon open its doors — a prospect that delights one of the individuals honoured to have her name on the building.

The Bill and Helen Norrie Library will celebrate its opening on March 29, albeit in pandemic restrictions that allow people to enter to pick up on-hold books only.

“It’s such a beautiful building and a lovely tribute to Bill and my name,” Helen Norrie said in an interview in the week leading up to the opening. “Bill had such strong feelings about the importance of libraries and literacy. I’m also excited about libraries from my days working as a teacher-librarian.”

Bill Norrie was Winnipeg’s mayor from 19792 to 1992 and also a former chancellor of the University of Manitoba and a Rhodes scholar. Helen Norrie has been a children’s book reviewer for the Winnipeg Free Press for over 30 years, and also the honorary campaign chair for the Cornish and St. John’s Centennial library renewal campaign.

Helen is looking forward to bringing her grandchildren and great-grandchildren to see the new library, which features a children’s section with three playhouses and a literacy area, a memorial to the residents of Rooster Town, and a lounge with a double-sided fireplace that is also a feature of the outdoor patio.

“I’m very happy to see it finally be ready to open. It’s a wonderful location, along a major bus route, next door to the Pan Am Pool and the playground,” Helen said. “People will come from River Heights, Linden Woods, Whyte Ridge and Fort Garry, so it’s more than a neighbourhood library.”

Betty Parry, the administrative co-ordinator of public services and collection development with the Winnipeg Public Libraries, said the River Heights Library permanently closed on March 13. The library staff then boxed up the collection and delivered it to the new library on March 15.

That tight timeline is something Parry has a lot of experience in, thanks to having moved collections from other libraries undergoing renovations, such as the Fort Garry, Windsor Park, Transcona and St. Vital libraries, among others.

“Two weeks is what we give ourselves, and we know we can pull the move off in that time,” Parry said, nodding to shelves already being filled with books pulled from carefully labelled cardboard cartons.

The River Heights Library collection was around 46,000 items, including books, DVDs, magazines, audio books and more. The new library has a capacity of 50,000 items.

The library is a 14,000 square-foot, one-storey new building at the northwest corner of the Grant Park Recreation Campus. The design was done by LM Architectural Group, which grouped building services, work areas, washrooms and the staff room along Cambridge Avenue while placing large open spaces facing Grant Avenue and the heavily forested site north of the Pan Am Pool.

“It’s beautiful inside, with a vaulted wood ceiling and lights hanging down from the charcoal-coloured metal beams,” Parry said.

Once pandemic restrictions are lifted at the fully accessible library, patrons will find comfortable chairs for reading, along with tables that have plug-ins for electronic devices. The library also has computers for both adults and children, along with free wi-fi.

“We’ll have flexibility to move things around indoors,” Parry said. “The children’s area has low bookshelves on wheels that can be moved aside for programs.”

Outside, picnic benches and patio tables and chairs are scattered along the east and south side of the new building, offering the potential for outdoor programming in the future. The north entrance features a long wood bench intended for resting on and for people waiting to catch a bus.

The interior wall in the lounge area features the history of Rooster Town — a Métis community that existed on this land from 1901 until the late 1950s. A large plaque on the Grant Avenue side will also share the history of the community.

For more on the new library, see wpl.winnipeg.ca/library/whatshappening/renorenewal/bahn.asp