Expanded hours boost Windsor library use; future of Central Branch remains uncertain

Windsor Public Library Central Branch seen in Windsor, Ont. on Sept. 19, 2025. (Gary Archibald/CTV News Windsor)

It’s been one year since the new hours at the Windsor Public Library took effect, and things have trending in a positive direction according to library officials.

As of January 5, 2025, the Windsor Public Library standardized hours across the board, and opened nine of the 10 branches on Sundays. This came following approval from the library board in August 2024 to unify hours and get rid of summer and winter hours.

While there was concern over this change, Mark McKenzie, Ward 4 councillor and chair of hours and board, and Kieran McKenzie, Ward 9 councillor and vice-chair of the library board, have stated that attendance throughout 2025 has been great, and the Sunday hours are drawing people to city libraries.

While both councillors expressed how pleased they are with the success throughout the year, both expressed concerns over the next steps for the Central Library Branch.

The Central Branch, currently located inside of the Paul Martin Building, will need to be out by early 2028 due to the construction of a new boutique hotel at the site. Despite having to be out of the building in two years time, there was $0 set aside in the proposed 2026 budget for the branch.

Kieran McKenzie said they’re seeing that increase in usage.

“A steady increase in attendance on Sundays, so generally speaking, looking at the numbers without having the full year of data in front of us, which will come I assume early in the new year, we’ve seen an increase in attendance, circulation, distribution, all of the different metrics we use to gauge whether the community is using the library or not,” he said.

He said the future of the Central Branch is the main concern he hears from library users.

“We’ve just engaged recently in the public information centre where we got renewed feedback in terms of what folks in the community want to see out of the Central Branch, we’ll analyze that data, and certainly continue to provide services out of the current main branch, but the processes are definitely ongoing," he added.

Meanwhile, Mark McKenzie said he’s really pleased with where library attendance is at.

“We know when the library is open now, it’s not changing in the summer as opposed to the winter, and people are loving the Sunday hours,” he said.

“But we are seeing a steady increase, some people are maybe going Sunday instead of going on Saturday, so sure you’re going to see a little bit of a decrease on Saturday, but it’s because now people are going on Sunday instead of Saturday.”

He said while he understands the push for a zero per cent tax increase, he’s concerned that no money was set aside in the budget for the Central Branch.

“We’ll find the money when we need it, but we have money in the library reserves as well, and that’s why I keep going back to saying do we need to actually build a new building? Or could we just continue to lease a space because we’re paying right now... we’re paying over $100,000 a year for our current space, could we find another space that’s comparable?”

Mark McKenzie said there are many vacant buildings downtown that could be used to house the Central Branch.

“We haven’t signed anything, we haven’t done anything like that, we haven’t even got numbers yet. But we’ve said here’s some spaces that may work, here’s some spaces that absolutely won’t work. I’ve looked at a few different buildings... probably about 10 different buildings, some we walked in and absolutely we were like, ‘nope, this isn’t going to work at all’, and then some other ones we said, ‘wow, this could actually work’.”

Previously only three branches were open on Sundays.

In December 2023, the city announced that Rob Myers, the owner of Chatham’s Retro Suites and RM Auto Restoration, was taking over the Paul Martin Building from the city as part of a $30-million investment to create 80 to 100 suites, a restaurant, a cafe, and possibly a gym inside the property.

The Central Branch has been located inside of the Paul Martin Building since February 2020 but was asked to leave its location earlier this year due to the construction of the hotel.