Library

Oxford County Library (OCL) serves seven of the Area Municipalities that make-up Oxford County by providing access to reading, culture, technology, trusted information, and creative learning opportunities. A  welcoming space at the heart of our communities, OCL Branches encourage connection, supports wellbeing and fosters a love for reading.

This service area AMP is categorized into four components based on their life spans and maintenance strategies: facilities, furniture and equipment, computer equipment, and collection materials. Library services also have short-term collection materials, such as newspapers, and subscribes to online collection material services; these items are not capitalized and therefore are not included in this asset management plan.

Inventory

Replacement costs were determined by recent tenders where possible, comparison to insured values, use of costs obtained during the 2025 budget process along with other estimates from County staff where inflated historical costs were deemed to be insufficient.

Condition

The percentage of assets in poor or critical condition has remained the same as reported in the 2024 AMP at 34%. The percentage of assets in good or excellent condition has decreased from 40% as reported in the 2024 AMP to 39%. These changes are reflective of the shorter lifecycle of assets in this portfolio.

The 2023 Building Condition Assessment (BCA) completed on the Ingersoll Town Hall Facility, where the library is located, indicated that interior finishes were generally in good to fair condition and did not project any interior lifecycle needs within the 2025 to 2039 period. Condition rating of furniture and equipment is age based, however many of the assets within this component continue to provide acceptable service levels. Staff will complete additional work to further validate the condition and upcoming lifecycle needs of furniture and equipment.

Key Performance

Library assets will be maintained and replaced in a manner that is appropriate to the services delivered, ensuring safe, accessible and efficient spaces for use by staff, Council, other organizations and members of the public.

Proposed Levels of Service Review

Information on the scenarios reviewed is contained within the AMP document. The current reserve balance is factored into each scenario as available funding to complete existing asset lifecycle needs. As the reserve balance and proposed funding under all scenarios are sufficient to fund near-term lifecycle needs, the average anticipated condition of the portfolio is the same under all scenarios from 2025 through 2031.

Risk mitigation measures are similar across all scenarios. Strategies learned from branch closures during the COVID-19 Pandemic could be used for mitigation. This may include, utilizing community spaces for programming and/or curbside or hold pickup; or extending branch hours at nearby or larger locations. Extending mobile services for programming support, collection availability and computer and printing services could also be used as a short-term solution. Regardless of the mitigation measure selected, some form of decrease of service is anticipated. Debenture funding would be a likely source of funding when an entire facility replacement is the most effective lifecycle strategy.

Based on the analysis, staff are recommending Scenario C, the proposed level of service target is to achieve 70% funding for this portfolio. Staff identified an improvement area to look at lifecycle strategies for various facility components as it may be beneficial in the long-term to not anticipate a run-to-failure strategy for some assets. Once incorporated this may result in reductions to the annual investment required. Through the 2025 budget survey, nearly 65% of respondents indicated that the service levels related to library services should be maintained or enhanced.

Funding Gap Analysis

Planned Investment Level
Inflationary increases are included in the table below in both the required investment and planned investment figures. Fluctuations in the anticipated reserve balance resulting from annual contributions and anticipated annual expenditures result in changes to the interest contribution.

Proposed Investment Change
As the planned investment is near the required investment, and other Library services priorities are anticipated for the 2026 budget, staff are not proposing any further increases to the contribution level for the 2026 budget beyond the inflationary increase. A 2% increase to the contribution level is proposed for 2030 through 2035, after the projected implementation of additional space needs identified through the 2024 Development
Charges Background Study.

Comparison of required investment to proposed investment (millions)