Aren’t libraries great? Now they’re even better
When I dropped into the
Wolfville Memorial Library to order a couple of books, I was given a new universal library card. It’s good in all the library systems outside the Halifax region.
This cool new initiative, Same Page, is being called a ‘super library.’ The eight regions always co-operated, but the move will serve over half the Nova Scotia population better.
Since libraries were a major factor in keeping a lot of us sane throughout the last two plus years, I think the linkage of more than 60
readers branch libraries is great. And can still use interlibrary loans to take out books from HRM.
Same Page was launched on April 21. The Annapolis Valley Regional Library now shares digital content, but even more than that, the new system has also eliminated overdue fines, removed borrowing limits, and will automatically renew items up to three times unless somebody else is wanting it. That’s an amazing barrier-free program.
The Annapolis Valley Regional
Ann-Marie Library’s chief librarian Mathieu can be proud, despite constant funding challenges, of the new facilities that have been created in recent years between Annapolis Royal and Windsor.
While a number of the 11 library sites have expanded, renovated or moved into a new space with strong public support, Mathieu worried pre-pandemic that the public will expect more — increased services and expanded hours. I think nowadays we’re just glad to have operational libraries.
I remember how excited folks in the Apple Capital were when the new Berwick and District Library opened in 2017.
While noting that the facility had always been busy, branch manager Barbara Lipp told me that her patrons loved the bright, open concept space and agefocused cosy nooks for those who want to stay awhile and get lost in a book, magazine, game or even a conversation.
The larger library — which is part of the new town hall complex on Commercial Street — meant more opportunities for programs, a vast collection of books, more seating and making friendships.
The transformation of a church into the Kentville branch, also in 2017, was bolstered when the town won $40,000 in the
‘This Place Matters’ competition and close to $60,000 was raised through crowd funding.
Kentville parks and recreation director Rachel Bedingfield recalled that the new community room in the redeveloped old sanctuary “took my breath away.” It remains a wonderful re-use of the building — as is Wolfville’s former train station.
The Merritt Gibson Library in Canning is not part of the regional system but survives due to giving volunteers who staff it and fundraise. They can always use more of both due to the age of the building on Canning’s main drag.
Lis van Berkel, who is one of the volunteers, once told me that, “A steady stream of people drop in and tell us that Canning is so lucky to have the library. They use our free WIFI and low-cost printer, and many people buy the huge numbers of books we are donated — our other big fundraiser.”
After 20 years as the Canning Library and Heritage Centre, the
library was renamed in 2015. Gibson was chair of the commission when the two-storey building became available for sale. It once housed the village’s telephone switchboard.
I worked in three libraries before graduating from university, so admittedly I have a soft spot for them. One of the most unique library experiences I ever took part in was at the Acadia library in
organized 2010. That was when staff The Human Library.
Borrowing a person out of The Human Library allows patrons to confront labels, to metaphorically turn the pages of a person’s life in half an hour. It made possible the acquisition of information through conversation — not by worming your way through dense text but by listening to stories told by ‘living books’ on all kinds of fascinating topics.
Human Libraries have been set up in over 30 countries. At Acadia,
outreach it was viewed as community via 25 living books. The idea behind The Human Library was first launched in Copenhagen in the 1990s. Five youth started it in reaction to an act of random violence. It seemed to have caught on rapidly, but likely, the trend was paused by COVID-19.
It is truly wonderful to see libraries expanding and growing, which keeps us all borrowing.