The Innisfail Public Library’s move to its new home is set to begin in earnest early next month.
The library is scheduled to close at 8 p.m. on Nov. 10 with the hopes of reopening at its new home in early January.
Innisfail Public Library Board chairperson Jane Duncalfe said the library board met with town administration on Oct. 11 and was given an outline on the move. Duncalfe said the library will begin moving into its new home on Nov. 17 and 18 in order to be fully out of its old location by Nov. 20.
Duncalfe added the library employees will be kept busy during the move.
“There will be lots of work for them to do,” she said.
Once the move is complete, interior renovations will begin on the old library in order to retrofit it into the town’s new fire hall.
While Duncalfe said the library shutdown is slightly longer than originally anticipated, she said there are no major issues. A library board tour of the new facility is scheduled for Thursday.
“It may be sooner (than January),” she said. “We’re saying that day to be on the safe side.”
During the shutdown, library patrons will be able to take out books from other Parkland Regional libraries, including those in Penhold, Spruce View and Olds, Duncalfe said. Return dates for Innisfail books will also be extended prior to the move.
“People can take out books for a longer period of time when the library closes,” Duncalfe said. “They won’t be responsible for fines but they will be responsible for lost books.”
Innisfail CAO Helen Dietz said given the size of the move a shutdown of just over a month isn’t unexpected.
“That’s just realistic – (it has) nothing to do with the building itself,” she said. “That’s a big move – there’s a lot of stuff to move.”
Dietz said contractors working on the new facility have been told to make the library space a priority.
“They have turned all of the focus so that they work specifically in the space for the library to meet these timelines as well.”
