Heather Wright/The Independent

Port Lambton and Sombra residents will have a chance to share their thoughts about their libraries Oct. 1.

Lambton County is holding a Town Hall meeting at the Port Lambton Community Hall to talk about the proposed expansion of Sombra library and the possible closure of Port Lambton facility moving the services to Sombra.

The Lambton County Library system has been advocating the move since a daycare moved out of the Sombra building, leaving lots of room to expand programming.

County council agreed it would be best to expand into the entire facility, adding an accessible washroom, more computers, a larger book collection and a maker room at a cost of about $285,000.

After the renovation is complete, the Port Lambton Library would close and the 12 hours there would be transferred to the new Sombra Library just over six kilometres away.

So far, St. Clair Township officials have been cool to the idea, particularly closing Port Lambton’s Library which circulates more books than Sombra at this point.

Lambton county library officials say arrangements could be made to continue providing materials in the area including books by mail or a vending machine in the community.

During a discussion in July, Councillor Cathy Langis expressed her concerns.

“I’m thinking that people that cannot get to a library are not people that are going to want to have a vending machine or be mailing their books or be picking them up in lockers,” she said. “They are not internet friendly, so they can’t go on and pick out books on there to have delivered to Port Lambton. I think those are very frustrating for our senior people.”

Deputy Mayor Steve Miller agreed. “I’m more concerned with the older people who just want to go get a book to read. The computer literate people, young people, don’t need libraries, to be quite honest with you, they can find anything they want to the internet. So that’s why I’m more concerned about seeing a place like Port Lambton being closed, where the older people no longer have access to books.”

There was some support for merging services. “I think the time is coming where we’re going to have to consolidate,” said Councillor Holly Foster in July. She asked for this town hall meeting “to explain to the public, the ‘whys’ as well as staff can explain why we may have to go down (that) road and get rid of some facilities.”

“While changes are required to provide a facility that can offer users a modern library experience now and for decades into the future, we want to hear from area residents about how changes may impact them so that both St. Clair Township and Lambton County Councils can make informed decisions about the proposal to consolidate the two library branches,” said Manager of Library Services Darlene Coke in a news release.