The North Kamloops Library building. (Image Credit: TNRD)

By Victor Kaisar

North Kamloops Library Upgrades

North Kamloops library to undergo renovations in 2025

Dec 2, 2024 | 10:25 AM

KAMLOOPS — The Thompson-Nicola Regional Library (TNRL) is expected to begin planning for a number of upgrades at the North Kamloops library in the near future.

Chief Librarian Judy Moore says the existing library building is “rather outdated” and in need of upgrades.

“Certainly the colour palette is rather dark. The carpet is threadbare now and our floor plan, our functional floor space, is a little less than optimum,” Moore said. “I think given the demographics in that area, a lot of kids, a lot of youth, we really want to look at developing more appealing spaces.”

Speaking to CFJC Today, Moore says the renovation work will also include updated flooring and finishes as well as upgrades to the public meeting rooms.

“We do offer those [meeting rooms] free of charge and in as many locations across the Thompson-Nicola Regional District as possible,” she said. “The ones that we have at the North Kamloops library do need some TLC.”

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“We’re looking forward to doing some public consultation in terms of a proposed floor plan. We definitely will be asking for feedback from the public.”

The renovation work is expected to cost around $465,000, according to a report that went before the TNRD Board of Directors this month.

“We wanted to mitigate any sort of tax impact for residents of the TNRD,” Moore said, noting the $465,000 will come from an existing $1.7 million capital reserve fund that was created for the proposed library in South Kamloops.

“We’re going to work on being able to positively impact the North Kamloops library with the amount that has been set aside.”

If all goes well, Moore says the renovation work at the North Kamloops should get underway sometime next year.

“We’ll get underway with planning fairly quicky and once we have a plan that we can move forward with, we’d go out to tender,” Moore said.

“We definitely have a defined process and public tendering opportunities for local construction companies to be able to bid on projects such as this.”