The library isn’t just for checking out books anymore.
With the province proclaiming October “Library Month in British Columbia,” Barbara Gibson. Trail and District Public Library board chair, offered a few statistics.
“At the end of August, we had for the year, 900 new resident card holder registrations,” she said. “In all of 2012, we did 358.”
Although Gibson didn’t attribute the spike in users to a particular section of the population, she said those numbers make it easy to stress “the city’s need for the library.”
“When people say that no one is visiting the library, I say tell that to the residents of Trail,” chuckled Gibson. “Residents are signing up in bigger numbers than ever before.”
This year’s theme to library month, is “Libraries Connect,” which is very fitting considering the Trail library’s recorded Internet (web-based) usage, which exceeded 18,500 views in August, said Gibson.
“E-services are really big in our library as well,” she explained. “You can sit at home and pick out the books you want to read and download them. You never have to leave your house, but you do need a library card.”
Aside from computer-based resources, the Trail library continues to reach out face-to-face with the community through children and adult programming, held in-house or at venues such as daycares and elementary schools and senior care facilities.
This month, the library kicks off a new children’s program called, “Little Readers and Sneakers,” that incorporates reading time with physical activity and play.
“We will have a theme each week with books, songs and crafts in the library,” said Martine Oosting, the library’s childrens’ programmer. “Then the kids can get wild in the gym afterwards.”
For those who are homebound, a decades long program, called home library services is made available by “Friends of the Library,” fellow readers who will hand-deliver books to the elderly, disabled or infirm.
“Just let us know what books you are interested in and we will bring them to you,” added Gibson.
Libraries are a foundation and the connection between members of our communities regardless of race, religion, age, gender, education and heritage, said Annette DeFaveri, executive director, B.C. Library Association in the news release. “Celebrating libraries is the celebration of our communities.”