Friday marks three years to the day since doors first opened to the Trail Riverfront Centre.
The opening ceremony on April 2 outside the city’s fetching new landmark was one of joy and celebration. The event, which fell on Easter Monday 2018, offered guided tours for the sizable crowd, eager for a first time look inside this shiny new build on the south end of town.
The Visitors Information Centre also moved in the following summer, drawing even more new eyes to this revitalized downtown neighbourhood.
Fast forward three years, the integrated public library/museum and tourist site has truly become a city hub; often hosting interesting events for all ages [pre-pandemic], and providing access to digital resources and all reading materials imaginable, as well as offering compelling and interactive museum experiences.
To celebrate all the positivity and one-on-one connections the Riverfront Centre has brought to this city, staff is giving the library logo a fresh new look.
“Since moving into the Riverfront Centre in 2018, the library has undergone many positive changes that we would like our brand to reflect,” Samantha Murphy, library director, told the Trail Times. “Staff felt that the old logo no longer accurately represented us; we were due for a fresh and updated look.”
Along with a new logo and colour theme comes an update to the library’s overall visual presence.
The logo design was inspired from the architecture of the building. The color scheme was derived from the interior of the building and the gardens and river that surround it.
Murphy says the new visual identity aligns with the shared industrial-type style that the City of Trail, and other local community organizations use.
The library has seen a significant increase of in-person visits and circulation since moving from the Trail Memorial Centre to its new digs. As well, online usage has increased 38 per cent over the last three years.
The types of technology available to patrons has also kept pace with the times, such as investments made for 3D printers, a digitization machine, Kobo readers, a laser cutter - even 3D goggles.
“We now offer more programs on a greater variety of topics, which has resulted in higher attendance over a broader range of patron demographics,” Murphy said.
“Robots and a movie screen for family movie night are some more new items for circulation that will be arriving soon.”
The Trail and District Public Library aspires to be a safe and welcoming public space that leads the way for diversity and inclusion in the community.
Providing access to information and support for technology literacy is a priority of its staff.
“It is important that the library be equipped with current technologies. Our e-product services saw a 38 per cent increase of usage in 2020; we look forward to the continued growth of our digital collections,” said Murphy. “The library strives to be responsive to the evolving needs of the greater community by providing services and programs that its patrons value. The Riverfront Centre’s unique building arrangement has integrated the community services of both the Library and the Museum; we are excited to continue to collaborate with the Museum on more projects in the future.”
The library’s new visual identity will officially launch on Monday, April 5.
As far as the number of visitors to the Riverfront Centre over the last 12 months, statistics definitely reflect the impact of the pandemic.
“With last year’s circumstances, we were unable to bring on our typical summer support staff in the visitor centre. In spite of the 40 per cent decrease in tourists last year, we found we were interacting with more provincial and regional travelers, which was very exciting,” says manager Sarah Benson-Lord.
“As the public health orders are changing again, we really want our business community to know we are a great resource and communicator on their behalf. We’ll be reaching out in the coming weeks.”
As the library and visitors centre tweak their practices to meet ongoing pandemic restrictions, so is the museum and archives.
During COVID, museum staff has taken the opportunity to tackle some collections projects, including reorganizing the artifact collections, complete with thorough inventory. Staff is also working on a digital content strategy for the collections, as society is well into the digital age of capturing and documenting life.
“This is a different concept to housing tangible objects, records and images, so it’s important we are focusing our collecting strategies on contemporary methods of documentation,” Benson-Lord explained.
The museum has also partnered with the city’s age-friendly initiative to offer digital presentations to local seniors through Zoom.
“We’ve really missed having our seniors in the building sharing stories with us and assisting with photo identification.”
The community can look forward to a new showcase coming in May, however. In partnership with the Doukhobor Discovery Centre, the museum will bring a temporary exhibit commemorating the Kootenay Doukhobor community in celebration of their 50th anniversary. Another feature coming up is the Royal BC Museum’s “Our Living Languages” in November, which is currently on exhibit at the Rossland Museum and Discovery Centre. The sensory exhibit features Indigenous languages of B.C.
“We’ve also been busy with research enquiries, and our research hours for both the collection and the Trail Times newspapers have resumed,” Benson-Lord added.
“We are also always happy to discuss potential donations to the collections, should anyone in the community have objects, photos, or records.”