Alicia Wallace
Rossland News
When was the last time you got excited about a visit to a public library? The Rossland Public Library is undergoing a renewal process to ensure patrons experience a comfortable, information-rich and dynamically designed recreation environment. As part of this renewal process, the library has new membership cards. The cards are hard wearing plastic featuring a new logo, containing the iconic ‘Storytellers’ from Andrew Raney’s raven sculpture that is visible from the library’s front walk.
Librarian Director, Beverley Rintoul, reveals the membership cards are the style of a credit card and no longer need laminating. “You can run these cards through the washer and not worry about them getting destroyed,” Rintoul said.
The library has 15,000 physical items in its collection plus a massive number of e-books and online resources. Rossland Public Library encourages Rossland residents to bring along their identification and the staff will issue you with a membership card enabling you to borrow from the assortment of books, movies and magazines. With a valid membership, you can also access e-books and magazines through the library’s website.
Fifty-one per cent of the city’s population are regularly participating in library activities or borrowing items. Attendance in children’s programs is almost four times greater than all other programs. Rintoul estimates there to be around 1,900 active individual members, ranking Rossland Library seventh of 49 libraries in B.C. that serve communities with less than 20,000 residents.
The old, yellow laminated cards will continue to be valid. If you would like a newly designed membership card, the staff will happily issue you one for a minimum donation of two dollars. Money raised will go towards comfy new seating as part of the Rossland Library Renewal project.
The Library renewal budget is $280,000. The Library Board of Directors made a conscious decision to fundraise the entire project amount.
“We believe fundraising will involve more people in the community in the project and communicate our vision of an exciting new library of the future,” explains the board.
The board are working with architects to finalize the concept. The construction phase of the project will begin after Christmas with a redevelopment of the washrooms to make them easily accessible. Funds for this phase were received through a federal grant. Rintoul estimates the consecutive phases to be underway towards the end of next year.
To learn more about the library’s online resources visit t rossland.bc.libraries.coop or talk to the library staff on your next visit.