Airdrie city council requested a workshop session be held to come up with a name for the community's new library and cultural centre during its meeting on Sept. 5.
While several name examples were brought forward through administration’s report during the meeting, council agreed to work on a name as a group and also voiced their desire to include Indigenous leaders in the discussion.
“I would really love it if we could have Indigenous consultation in that process,” said Coun. Heather Spearman. “The fact we’re building on Nose Creek, which is a really important spot, the fact that we’ve made accommodations throughout the building and design [for] Indigenous consultation, I just think it makes sense to carry that through to potentially the naming aspect as well.”
While Council was in favour of a workshop-style session, Coun. Al Jones did note he didn’t understand why time and money was being spent on naming the facility when other facilities like the recreation centre were not named in the same way.
“We didn’t do this with the rec centre, it was the Airdrie rec centre or the East Lake rec centre. We didn’t give it a name like The Hub,” Jones said. “We already know what the actual building is, it’s got a library [and] we’re going to have arts and stuff, it’s learning and cultural centre.”
Airdrie’s administration noted the name of a facility is important as it represents its purpose and identity, and allows it to become part of the Airdrie vernacular.
The project title, Airdrie Multi-use Facility and Library (AMUFL), was a temporary name to identify the project, which needs to be replaced with a council-approved name, administration stated.
Solidifying a name now will give the public time to see and imagine themselves using this facility and start to create this facility as a landmark in Airdrie, according to administration.
Administration presented several literal names that reflect the activities and specific functions that are delivered within the facility, such as the Airdrie Library and Learning Commons, or Library and Culture Centre.
Another approach presented were creative and abstract names, such as A Block, The Hive, or Airdrie Axis.
“Today we’re not asking council to choose a name, but to get council’s preference for the process to select a name,” said Michelle Lock, Airdrie’s community services director in her presentation to council.
“This is a good starting point, but I love workshops because we can collaborate and bounce ideas off each other," said Coun. Tina Petrow. "I’d love to see a workshop where we all come with a couple of ideas."
Different options to select a name were presented to council in alignment with council’s recent Naming City Assets policy.
Those options included a workshop-style session during a council strategy meeting, name submissions from each councillor in advance to be presented at a council meeting, or administration returning with three options for council based on their email suggestions.
