NEW COLUMNIST
Columnist reflects upon memories of various libraries
Meet our new Glace Bay columnist Lila Carson.
Besides loaning books, libraries do so many other things these days including book launches, story times for toddlers, senior seminars, and book clubs.
That’s just at the physical Glace Bay Library location. There are other libraries in the CBRM and with the borrow anywhere, return anywhere policy and inter-library loans, we are almost limitless.
At McConnell Library in Sydney, I’ve played chess, attended the annual knit-a-thon and met Viola Desmond’s sister Wanda Robson. You can borrow snowshoes, pedometers, DVDs, e-books, or even go to a teen songwriting workshop. Libraries have come a long way.
When I moved to Glace Bay, I joined the seniors book club. Co-ordinated by the library staff, all the work is done for you. All you have to do is read the book and show up. It makes reading clubs affordable and accessible for all. Books introduce you to new, local authors. That’s how I heard of Leslie Crewe. You’d be surprised by the direction some of the discussions can take.
So, what about the history of the library in Glace Bay? A 95-year-old book club member told me her father used to walk past the Credit Union on West Street in #2 which had a library for the miners. He always stopped by and got books. He read them, and so did the whole family. Today at 95, she’s still enjoying books.
J.B. MacLachlan promoted literacy with books and his educational articles. Father Jimmy Tompkins with his people’s library and study groups in Reserve Mines and the Carnegie Corporation with their money all contributed. The seeds for the idea of regional libraries with trained library staff had been planted. They just had to germinate.
In 1951, Glace Bay received a special birthday present. The Bank of Montreal donated their old building to be used as a library.
Thinking of the beautiful old library with its upstairs loft brings happy memories to many. But who could ever forget those “Shh! Quiet in the Library signs?”
Today’s libraries are very different, much more welcoming and helpful.
On October 4, 1991, 900 boxes containing 21,000 books moved to the current library at 121 Union Street. Later the old Greco Pizza Restaurant morphed into the children’s section of the library, complete with its yellow and blue stained glass lamps as you enter. I never noticed until I started researching the incredibly valuable hooked history tapestry called the “Louisbourg Mat” hanging on the back wall of the adult library. Renowned poet Lillian Crewe Walsh completed it in 1933 and donated it to the original library in 1953. It depicts the story of John Cabot and his son Sebastian, landing in Cape Breton in 1497. There is also a sister tapestry hanging in the Old Town Hall.
My first childhood experience with libraries was through a bookmobile that visited our community all summer. We walked over a mile just to borrow a big armful of books. Those summers I felt like “Little House on the Prairie” author Laura Ingalls Wilder came to Mira Gut just for me.
I have been to so many libraries I couldn’t even remember them all. In the six provinces I have lived I went to at least one library in each. I’ve taken my grandchildren to a first aid course for kids in Saint John, N.B., and taken the rest to storytimes in Alberta and Winnipeg, Manitoba.
When I taught in rural Alberta, I borrowed books from libraries in Calgary, Airdrie, Cochrane, Cremona, Carstairs, Didsbury, Olds, and Red Deer, all at the same time. Teaching on the remote Bunnibonibee Cree Nation in Northern Manitoba, I discovered the seriousness of library services being free and accessible to all. Visiting Winnipeg’s Centennial Library, I asked how I could borrow books while living in a fly-in community. Brandon Library had such an outreach. For four years, I regularly received books in a green canvas bag with big snaps on it and an attached plastic envelope where the address label could be placed. And not only that, the free return postage was also included for shipping through Canada Post and Perimeter Airways!
I hope a visit to Glace Bay’s library will see you getting your own free membership card joining the other 3,297 members and borrowing from the 27,797 items in stock.
As part of Family Literacy Day, mark your calendar for the Harry Potter Book Night at Glace Bay Library, Feb. 28, 6 to 8 p.m., open to everyone, Grade 3 and up. Lila Carson used to be an elementary teacher who returned home to Cape Breton. She took a course on the history of Cape Breton at Cape Breton University and developed an interest in learning about where she lived. She now wants to share this knowledge with others. If you have any comments or ideas you would like to see in future columns, email her at lilacarson@hotmail.com.