Draft·October 12, 2026·AI Assisted

Library Card AI: A Proposal for Public AI Access in Ottawa

This proposal asks Ottawa to pilot free, metered access to leading AI models through the public library card, delivered through a gateway run by Ottawa Public Library that can later carry sovereign Canadian models to every resident.

Executive summary

Pilot year

$642,007

12 months, phased launch

Three years

$3,065,078

pilot plus two open years

Per resident, year 3

$1.30

across all 1,017,449 residents

Revenue

$0

free to residents

This costs the City money; it does not make any. The service is free to residents and earns no revenue. In the base case the pilot year costs about $642,007 and three years cost about $3,065,078, before any provincial or federal grants. About 68% of the year 3 cost is metered model use, which is capped per card, so the library controls the total by setting the allowance. Explore the budget model to change the assumptions and see every line.

What the money buys:

• Access for residents who don't have it. By year 3, about 36,630 residents a month use paid-tier AI for about $3.01 per user per month, all costs included, against roughly US$20 a month for a consumer subscription.
• Practical results. Job applications, government forms, coursework and small-business paperwork, which the pilot's evaluation measures directly.
• AI literacy at scale. Staff-led workshops in every branch, in a country ranked 44th of 47 for AI training.
• A public channel for sovereign AI. When Canadian models arrive, every cardholder gets them the same day, with no new app or account system to build.
• A cheap way to find out. If the pilot misses its targets, Council stops after year 1 at the pilot cost.

The gap

Capable AI now sits behind a monthly subscription, and the residents who would gain most from it are the least likely to pay for one. Job seekers, newcomers, students, seniors and sole proprietors get the weaker free tier, usually in exchange for their data.

Canada is behind on this. KPMG research ranks Canada 44th of 47 countries in AI literacy and training (KPMG). The federal strategy released June 4, 2026, AI for All, names public libraries as AI literacy partners, but analysts note no funding is earmarked for that role (Cultural Policy Hub).

Libraries solved this problem once already. They bought books, then internet access, then databases and e-books, and shared them through one card. AI is the next shared resource, and Ottawa Public Library already has the three things it needs: an identity system, public trust on privacy, and staff who teach people to use information tools.

Phase 1: AI on the library card

Every Ottawa Public Library cardholder gets a free monthly allowance of AI use, signed in with a card number and PIN, from home or in a branch.

• A library-run chat page, not a vendor account. Residents never hand an email, phone number or payment card to an AI company.
• Paid-tier models from at least two vendors, such as Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini, bought under metered enterprise contracts.
• A visible monthly allowance. Each card has a usage budget, $5 in the base case below, that resets monthly. When it runs out, the resident drops to a cheaper model until the reset.
• Staff support. Branches run drop-in help and short workshops on using AI well and checking its answers.

Metered contracts are the key design choice. Consumer subscriptions are sold per person, and Toronto Public Library reports that no licensing model exists for shared public use (Urban Libraries Council). Buying by usage means the library pays only for what residents use and can cap the total.

How it works

Every request passes through a gateway the library controls. The gateway is the only part Ottawa has to own, and it is why models can be added or swapped without residents changing anything.

Phase 2: a conduit for sovereign AI

The same gateway becomes the public distribution channel for any model a Canadian government releases or certifies. Adding a model is a configuration change, and every cardholder in Ottawa has it the same day.

Governments get three things they would otherwise have to build:

• Reach. A sign-in that residents already hold, with no new app or account system.
• A trusted proxy. The library sits between the resident and the model operator, so neither a vendor nor a government department sees who asked what.
• A place to enforce standards. Admission to the gateway can require Canadian hosting, both official languages, audit logging, and the Canada Trusted AI Certification the federal strategy proposes.

The federal direction supports this. AI for All commits to a public supercomputer, sovereign compute under Canadian law, Canadian foundation model research, and trusted AI agents for all post-secondary students (Bennett Jones). Libraries extend that last commitment to everyone who is not a student.

No government has yet announced a sovereign model for public use. Phase 2 is an option the design keeps open, and Phase 1 does not depend on it.

Precedents

Three precedents show the demand, the delivery model and the policy backing. None yet offers remote, per-card access.

This proposal adds what is missing: access from anywhere on the card, a budget per resident, several vendors, and a route for sovereign models.

Cost

Model cost is capped by design: it can never exceed active users × monthly allowance. The library sets the allowance to fit the budget, so spending cannot pass the ceiling.

The base case assumes 407,000 cardholders (an estimate from Ottawa's population), 5% of them active each month in the open phase and rising 2 points a year, a $5 monthly allowance, and 40% of it used. The pilot phases in: three months of preparation, six months for a capped first cohort, then three months open to every cardholder. The figures are planning estimates, not vendor quotes.

Costs outside model usage need quotes from the library: gateway build and hosting, a privacy impact assessment, staff training, and a program coordinator. The gateway itself need not be built from scratch; the US Public AI Libraries Project publishes its kiosk software as open source. The budget model breaks every line down and lets you change the assumptions.

Candidate funding: the library operating budget, Ontario library grants, the federal National AI Literacy Initiative once funded, and vendor credits accepted only under a multi-vendor rule.

Privacy, safety and governance

The gateway applies library privacy practice to AI: the library knows a card was used, and no one keeps a record of what the resident asked.

• Identity stays at the library. Requests reach the model without the card number or name attached.
• No training on resident data. Contracts prohibit vendors from training on prompts and require minimal retention.
• Counts, not content. The library stores usage totals per card for metering and does not store conversations by default.
• Canadian data residency where a vendor offers it, and mandatory for sovereign models in Phase 2.
• Age rules follow the library's existing internet-use policy, with guardian consent for children's cards.
• Acceptable use relies on the vendors' built-in safety systems and the library's code of conduct.
• Public reporting. The library publishes the model list, costs and usage statistics, and completes a privacy impact assessment before launch.

The library board owns the policy. In Ontario, the board's handling of personal information falls under MFIPPA, and legal review should confirm the fit in Ottawa.

Pilot

A 12-month pilot in three stages tests demand and cost before any permanent commitment.

The evaluation reports six measures, with targets set by the library before launch:

• Monthly active users, and the share who had no paid AI access before
• Model cost per active user
• Tasks residents report completing, such as job applications, forms and coursework
• New library card sign-ups attributed to the service
• Staff hours spent on support
• Privacy or safety incidents

Objections

The strongest objection is that free AI tiers already exist, and the pilot is designed to test it.

The ask

Ottawa Council and the Ottawa Public Library Board are asked to approve four steps:

1. Direct library and IT staff to scope the 12-month pilot and report back within 90 days with a budget.
2. Authorise a privacy impact assessment and a two-vendor procurement for metered AI access.
3. Set a pilot budget of $642,007, within which model usage is capped at $395,250, with the per-card allowance sized to fit it.
4. Write to the Ontario and federal ministers responsible for AI, offering Ottawa Public Library as a pilot channel for sovereign models and requesting funding under the National AI Literacy Initiative.

A shared gateway specification, adopted by libraries neighbouring Ottawa, would turn one city's pilot into a national distribution layer.

Sources

• Toronto Public Library: AI Upskilling Initiative wins Minister's Award for Innovation
• Urban Libraries Council: AI Upskilling Initiative, Toronto Public Library
• Public AI Network: Building Public AI with Libraries
• Bennett Jones: Canada's AI for All Strategy
• KPMG Canada: Canadian national AI strategy, AI for All
• Cultural Policy Hub at OCAD U: Canada's National AI Strategy, key overview