Andrew Meyer wants St. Clair Township to think about the future of the community’s libraries.

Recently, a 10 year planning report came out which said some of the smaller libraries in the county – including Wilkesport, Port Lambton, Sombra, Courtright and Mooretown – are under used and could be merged or even replaced with library service points which could mean getting books and materials from something similar to a vending machine.

Meyer – the director of cultural services for the county – told St. Clair councillors Tuesday, the county wants to work with the municipalities.

Meyer suggested Port Lambton and Sombra’s libraries might be combined. That might also be an option for Mooretown and Courtright.

He says the county is “looking at the shifting of the space allocation (in several communities) to address areas of service overlap… in order to pool our resources in a way that supports enhanced facilities where the libraries truly serve as community hubs.”

Port Lambton is in an area where service overlaps, Meyer says, adding Sombra could be “expanded to underutilized areas of that building to create a more enhanced service point.”

And he says since the report was made public, a number of groups have already approached Lambton County with solutions to improve library service in St. Clair.

“We have been approached by organizations within your community that have come forward and made suggestions about how we might be able to address a new location for the library.

“And we’ll certainly be looking to share those with your staff and to your staff to counsel at the appropriate time.”

One suggestion was to approach the Catholic board to see if a library could be located in the newly expanded Sacred Heart School.