{"id":8270,"date":"2025-02-05T15:48:28","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T19:48:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=8270"},"modified":"2025-02-06T09:55:26","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T13:55:26","slug":"liverpool-library-almost-ready-to-reopen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2025\/02\/05\/liverpool-library-almost-ready-to-reopen\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool library almost ready to reopen"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A few final touches and the Thomas H. Raddall Library in Liverpool will be ready to open at its new interim location. (Rick Conrad)<\/p><\/div>\n

UPDATED THURSDAY, 9:55 A.M.<\/span><\/p>\n

The library in Liverpool is close to reopening, but a few things have to be ironed out first.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ashley Nunn-Smith, CEO and chief librarian of South Shore Public Libraries, told QCCR on Wednesday that a final fire inspection has to be done, and internet issues have to be addressed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe construction work itself is finished. Books are on the shelves. We are waiting on a few very key things. … Once those are resolved, any day now I hope to be able to open.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Thomas H. Raddall branch has been closed since Dec. 15, when staff packed up the library\u2019s collection to prepare for the move from downtown Liverpool to a building about 1.5 kilometres away.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The lease at the former location was due to expire at the end of December. So the Region of Queens decided to put the library, on an interim basis, in the municipally owned Liverpool Business Development Centre off White Point Road.<\/span><\/p>\n

The region budgeted up to $1.26 million for renovations to the space.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many residents were concerned that it\u2019s not easy to walk to, with no sidewalks and limited lighting.<\/span><\/p>\n

Queens County Transit and the South Shore Public Libraries have teamed up to offer free transportation from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Thursday from downtown Liverpool to the new location.<\/span><\/p>\n

“If it\u2019s really successful, I\u2019m sure we can talk about expanding it,” Nunn-Smith said. “We could potentially look at adding other times or other days of the week.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Nunn-Smith says she empathizes with library patrons who can\u2019t wait for the branch to reopen.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI know everyone\u2019s really excited to get inside and to have a library in their own community again. We had hoped to be open by now. \u2026 We\u2019re really excited to welcome the patrons back in too.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Nunn-Smith said the new location will keep the Thomas H. Raddall name, after Raddall\u2019s family were assured that regional council is committed to finding a more central, permanent location.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The municipality\u2019s library steering committee had recommended that a new library be built near Queens Place Emera Centre, close to downtown Liverpool. Raddall’s grandson Tom was the honorary chairman of that committee, but resigned after councillors twice rejected the committee’s recommendations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Councillors decided last February to move the library to the new interim location instead.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWith the new council, I feel the attitude has changed,” Nunn-Smith says. <\/span><\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve met with the mayor and Coun. (Courtney) Wentzell who is on the library board. And they too agree that a true community hub should be at the centre of the community where the people are. And so with that in mind and all of us being aligned, the library board, the Raddall family and the council on the direction of the library, it seems like a positive turn.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo because of that, Tom Raddall … has agreed to retain the Thomas H. Raddall Library name for another five years.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Nunn-Smith said she believes “the best case scenario” would be five to seven years before a brand new library could be built.<\/p>\n

Despite the delays in reopening in the interim location, she says she believes patrons will enjoy the new space.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s bigger and brighter, with a large expandable program room as well as a community kitchen. It\u2019s also fully accessible.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And it will feature raised garden beds outside, thanks to funding from the Nova Scotia government.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI love the inside of the space. It\u2019s wonderful. And even the green space directly outside of the library is going to be great too.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe programming spaces are outstanding. I would love to have such programming spaces in our other locations. \u2026 It\u2019s going to be our first branch with a community kitchen, so we can run cooking programs and other types of baking and cooking demonstrations. It\u2019s just going to be wonderful.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Nunn-Smith said she hopes the Thomas H. Raddall Library is back in business in a few days.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But regardless, a grand reopening is planned for Sat., April 5.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo a ribbon cutting and story times and music and some cake, that type of big celebration day, so that everyone who hasn\u2019t checked it out yet can come and celebrate the new space with us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to the audio version of this story below<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/librarydelayqccrfeb525.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UPDATED THURSDAY, 9:55 A.M. The library in Liverpool is close to reopening, but a few things have to be ironed out first. Ashley Nunn-Smith, CEO and chief librarian of South Shore Public Libraries, told QCCR on Wednesday that a final fire inspection has to be done, and internet issues have to be addressed.\u00a0 \u201cThe construction […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[910,2595,792,2876,39,2261,24,248,795],"class_list":["post-8270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-ashley-nunn-smith","tag-courtney-wentzell","tag-library","tag-library-branch","tag-liverpool","tag-liverpool-library","tag-region-of-queens","tag-south-shore-public-libraries","tag-thomas-h-raddall-library"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8270"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8279,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8270\/revisions\/8279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}