A conversation with Christian Collins of Lennoxville library
Libraries have changed dramatically over the last 20 years. The Lennoxville library has an important part to play in the cultural life of the town. Art exhibitions, poetry readings, book clubs and film rental as well as internet access are now some of its widening daily offerings. In this conversation with Christian Collins the library doors are opened to discover more about this local treasure.
The Lennoxville Library was founded more than a hundred years ago. People don’t come to the library now solely to read books. Tell us about the changes that have taken place in the 21st century. Are books still the principal reason people come to the library?
In a small community library like ours, books are still a huge part of what we do. But if you take this summer as an example, we are also hosting book discussion groups; offering art workshops where kids and adults learn techniques like paper making, screen printing and collage; organizing “literary rambles” in scenic parts of the Eastern Townships with our poet-in-residence Steve Luxton; and holding weekly storytime activities for little ones. In a word, we’re about community and connection. But you could say that books and reading are the glue that holds us together.
What can a small library such as Lennoxville’s give its residents that a large city library can’t?
Personable and personalized service. This is a place where the staff know you, know what you enjoy, and know how to help you find the resources you are looking for.
I have found the Lennoxville Library staff to be helpful and generous with their time when I’ve expressed interest in having the library obtain a new book so that I can read it. Has the budget for new books increased in the last 10 years? Do you have equal budgets for French and English book acquisitions?
Our book budget is woefully small. It has increased in the last 10 years, but not by enough. When we make our monthly new book selections it always involves wrenching decisions.
It helps that we have access to pretty great province-wide interlibrary loan services, but that is not a substitute for having a rich collection right here on site. Our primary mandate is to serve the borough of Lennoxville, which is roughly 50:50 Anglophone and Francophone, so our budgets are divided evenly between the two languages. But we also aim to give residents of Sherbrooke and surrounding communities access to great English-language resources that might be harder to come by in other libraries in the area. To that end, we rely greatly on donations from the community. Most of our operating budget comes from the City of Sherbrooke. If you like what we do, consider letting your local elected officials know—and maybe giving them a nudge to increase our budget!
Recently I saw a display of books by Québec poets for a reading and discussion on Zoom. Being locked in our homes meant that interactions we took for granted proved to be difficult or impossible. What changes has the Covid-19 pandemic had on your activities at the library? Have certain activities been more popular than others this last year?
The vast majority of our activities this last year were online. Sometimes it worked in our favour: 130 people came to our annual Canada Reads … and So Does Lennoxville event—nearly as many as had attended the in-person event the year before. But this time some came from as far away as Alberta and Nova Scotia. Our poetry events were similarly well attended. Zoom works well for this kind of thing, maybe even allowing for a kind of intimacy that is harder to achieve in a packed auditorium. Our English-language book club, held every two weeks, is perfectly happy meeting virtually. Our monthly French-language club has
chosen to wait until they can meet again in person. As I mentioned earlier, we have a full slate of mostly in-person activities this summer.
I understand that you come from the United States. How did you find your way to being chief librarian at the Lennoxville library?
Although I am a librarian by profession, my title here is Library Coordinator. I’m from New York State originally. I’ve been in Canada for five years now. What brought me here? Love.
The library functions well because of its volunteers. In fact, it is well recognized that they are essential. What are their roles at the library? Are there other paid professional librarians working with you?
We are truly a volunteer-led organization, administered by a board of trustees who do what they do strictly because they love libraries and want to see us thrive. Volunteers are involved in selecting and ordering books, cataloguing and preparing them for circulation, running our used-book sales, which are a major fundraiser for the library, offering programs and activities for the public, and much more. I’m the only full-time paid employee. We simply could not function without our volunteers. When we totalled the volunteer hours worked in 2020, it added up to another 1.5–2 full-time employees.
The pandemic brought to the forefront the wonders of home gardening. How did your seed exchange go this year?
More than 30 people took part in it, exchanging close to a hundred packets of seeds. I love hearing comments at the counter about what’s growing well and what’s not now that summer is in full swing. We’re already getting ready for next year! We’ll be putting out a call for donations of saved seeds in the autumn.
In the cultural life of a small town— Lennoxville was only merged into the city of Sherbrooke in 2002—the library once had a significant partnership with the residents in defining and having its culture flourish. Can those days be rekindled, regardless of the internet? Why do you think we still need a local library?
With just over a thousand people coming through our doors on average every month, I think we can say that that significant partnership is still there. We’re betting on the fact that people still find something vital and necessary in the kind of warm, human connection that a library like ours can offer. And we see proof of it every day.
If you could name one book that you particularly loved reading this last year, which would it be, and why?
As a newcomer to this country, and a lover of great non-fiction writing, I’m always looking for books that give me insight into this place where life has brought me. Two that come to mind are Noah Richler’s This Is My Country, What’s Yours? A Literary Atlas of Canada and Serge Bouchard’s Le Peuple Rieur: Hommage à Mes Amis Innus
Please visit the library’s website: https://bibliolennoxvillelibrary.ca/
We are truly a volunteer-led organization, administered by a board of trustees who do what they do strictly because they love libraries and want to see us thrive. Volunteers are involved in selecting and ordering books, cataloguing and preparing them for circulation, running our used-book sales, which are a major fundraiser for the library.