---New Lucy Faris Library citizen committee, candidates wanted

With the four finalists for the new Place des Pionniers’ architectural contest recently selected, Gatineau has launched a call for candidates for the project’s citizen committee. According to a press release issued by the city on March 9, people wanting to get involved in volunteer work and desiring to provide an opinion on the architectural contest’s four finalists’ respective projects are invited to submit their candidacy by completing the registration form on the city’s website - https://www.gatineau.ca/docs/guichet_municipal/travaux_projets_majeurs_fermetures_rues_fermetures_sentiers/bibliotheque_lucy_faris_place_pionniers/formulaire_mise_candidature.fr-CA.pdf. 

The citizen committee will be responsible for analyzing the four finalists’ projects and providing their analysis to the contest’s selection jury. The city is looking for seven people to form the committee: five from the Aylmer sector and two from a Gatineau sector other than Aylmer. Of the five Aylmer residents, the city is particularly looking for one teenager (between 12 and 17), one parent of a child who is 17 years old or under, two people aged between 18 and 64, and one person aged 65 and over. The two chosen from outside Aylmer will be aged 18 and up.

To be considered, committee members must enjoy collaborating with others, be keen at expressing their ideas, have an analytical mind, and be enthusiastic about libraries. Stating that all of its meetings are to be held in French, it was noted that the committee will also feature a number of representatives from local organizations, including the Aylmer Association of Professional Industrials and Merchants (APICA), the Centre de services scolaires Portages-de-l’Outaouais (CSSPO), Arts visuels de Gatineau, and a representatives for people with impaired mobility.

The city explained that the selection process will be conducted by draw, following a series of in-person interviews. It noted that candidates selected must make themselves available for three interviews lasting around three hours each between April 29 and May 13.  Plus, one will need to study and comment on the finalists’ presentations, which will last around two hour apiece. It added that a four-hour interview with the four finalists would also be held sometime this month. When the finalists’ projects are presented later this spring, residents will be invited to vote for their favourite concept – noting that the poll results will be transferred to the contest’s selection jury.

The new three-storey building is planned to house the reincarnated Lucy-Faris Library as well as municipal offices. Highlighting the new library’s significance for Aylmer and the rest of the city, Commission des arts, de la culture, et des lettres President and L’Orée-du-Parc councillor Isabelle N. Miron said the committee is a great way of giving residents an opportunity to impact an important project for the community. “In Gatineau, libraries are positioning themselves as gathering places that contribute to neighbourhood life,” Miron said in the press release. “The implementation of the committee will allow the jury and the city to have the pulse of the population for the rest of the architectural contest. So, I’m sending my invitation to those desiring to make a difference and contribute to Old Aylmer’s urban landscape.”