In terms of public libraries, the City of Sherbrooke suffers, in all respects, from a serious deficit compared to other municipalities. The 47,000 citizens of the Fleurimont district, in particular, still do not have access to their own library, even though they represent approximately 27% of the city’s population.
“I don’t know of any city of this size in Quebec that doesn’t already have its library,” says Mayor Evelyne Beaudin. However, her plan to convert a church in this neighbourhood into a library is likely to fall flat again.
“I feel like the people of Sherbrooke are at risk of never seeing” this plan completed, she admits. Elected officials are questioning the costs of the project. “The citizens of Sherbrooke imagine that I have the power, that the library depends only on me, but it’s the council that decides.” In Sherbrooke, the mayor points out, her political party is in the minority on the council.
A decisive deadline for the project is set for September 17, during an upcoming meeting of elected officials which should lead to a decisive request for a grant from the federal government.
“The file was withdrawn from the municipal council last June,” recalls Fleurimont district councilor Hélène Dauphinais. “It’s not just because I think it costs too much that it was withdrawn, but because others think so too,” she told the Duty. The elected officials have not been able to agree, even if only to commit to the expenses necessary to stabilize part of the roof of the building acquired by the City. “If we decide to demolish the building to build a new one, it would be spending money for nothing to take care of the roof,” says Mr.me Dauphinais.
“We have to decide soon what we will do with this building,” she admits, however.
The councillor says it would cost $2 million to $3 million to demolish the old church. “People understand that the Howard Estate [une ancienne résidence bourgeoise d’un sénateur]it is heritage and it must be protected. It is less obvious for a church that is not so old.
Some catching up to do
“We are behind on all levels in terms of libraries,” says Mayor Beaudin. There is a lot of catching up to do for all neighbourhoods, and providing Fleurimont with a library is, for her, a first step in filling the cultural deficit that a significant part of Sherbrooke suffers from.
The queen of the Eastern Townships is one of the Quebec cities that spends the least money per capita on its library network. According to a report by Gagné Leclerc Groupe Conseil on the subject, the city is seriously lagging behind. All things considered, Sherbrooke has “the fewest service points in relation to its population.” It is also the place where users have the least amount of space in the library to sit and read.
In all indicators regarding public libraries, Sherbrooke is far behind comparable cities such as Lévis, Saguenay, Terrebonne or Trois-Rivières.
In Trois-Rivières, a little less than $45 per capita is invested in libraries. In Terrebonne, Saguenay, Lévis and Longueuil, the $35 mark is more or less reached. Sherbrooke is at the back of the pack, with only about $25 per capita. It is therefore no surprise that the queen of the Eastern Townships appears to be the large municipality in Quebec where library use is the lowest.
In 2022, Sherbrooke announced that the Fleurimont neighbourhood would have its first public library thanks to the reconversion of the Sainte-Famille church, a modern building dating from the Quiet Revolution. Studies were done, but construction never started. After these studies, “we were told that it would cost $40 million,” says councillor Hélène Dauphinais. “Yes, I think it’s expensive. We are capable of doing very beautiful things when we build new. The pool that we just inaugurated, with an entrance that looks like white sand, cost $9 million.”
Mme Dauphinais also believes that the new library, with its approximately 3,000 m2 (including the conversion of the basement), would be too large for the needs of citizens. According to the Guidelines for Public Libraries in Quebec, a government document published in 2019, Sherbrooke should have a little over 9,000 m2 libraries to minimally serve its population. However, the city has half of this minimum threshold.
“People imagine that a library is just a floor with shelves of books that can be purchased for seven or eight million dollars,” explains the mayor. “People imagined figures at the beginning, without looking at how much a public library costs elsewhere,” she says, emphasizing that there are avenues for financing.
Preserving heritage
In Sherbrooke, adds Mayor Evelyne Beaudin, “you have to know that even though the city is old, we are also seriously behind in protecting our heritage.” “This church is considered remarkable. It’s a way not only to give a library to a sector that needs one, but also to preserve our heritage for the future,” she says.
The Sainte-Famille church, completed in 1964 based on plans by architect Alphonse Bélanger, is an “example of modern architecture representative of its time,” notes the City of Sherbrooke in its official documents. With its vast spaces and modern stained glass windows, Sherbrooke has described it as “exceptional.” This church also appears in the inventory of places of worship in Quebec.
Several large cities have installed their libraries in churches. This is the case of the Monique-Corriveau library, in the Sainte-Foy sector of Quebec. In Magog, not far from Sherbrooke, the municipality inaugurated its library in the Sainte-Marguerite-Marie church in 2011. Montreal also benefits from a few conversions of this type.
The issue of converting the old church into a library will be addressed again at the municipal council on September 17. Mayor Beaudin does not hide the fact that time is pressing: “We could have access to a federal grant program and, for that, we must have submitted a project in October. We are ready for a conversion scenario, but not for a new construction scenario.”
According to the elected official, building a new library worthy of the name would end up costing roughly the same as converting the existing building. “And we would not be keeping our past alive,” she notes.