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This article was published 3/7/2012 (3010 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

FILE - Carly Moore browses through books at the Winnipeg Millenium Library.

The City of Winnipeg plans to spend $5.8 million next year to amalgamate the Windsor Park and St. Vital libraries and another $1 million to replace the Charleswood Library.

On Thursday, council’s protection and community services committee will consider a strategy to replace or renovate eight of the city’s 20 library branches at a total cost of $21 million over eight years. The eight branches in questions are older than 50 years.

The first phase of the redevelopment would see construction on the Charleswood and St. Vital/Windsor branches begin in 2013. A $5.1-million replacement in Transcona would follow in 2014.

In 2015, the River Heights library would be replaced at a cost of $5.4 million. And between 2017 and 2020, replacement would take place in Westwood ($1.1 million), St. James ($6.2 million) and West Kildonan ($1.8 million.).

The report calls for the construction of 14,000-square-foot libraries with a generic design. The city would explore the idea of leasing the new structures instead of building them themselves.

Some of the $21-million tab may be recovered from sales of the existing building, the report states.