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Library elects new board members and lays plans to stay relevant in digital age

Rossland's public library recently held its AGM, elected two new board members to its ranks, and soon the board will choose a new chair to move forward in a year that holds both challenges and opportunities.

Rossland's public library recently held its AGM, elected two new board members to its ranks, and soon the board will choose a new chair to move forward in a year that holds both challenges and opportunities.

One new board member is Erik Knudsgaard, a retired Teck employee who has been an active library volunteer helping to shelve books, research materials, and work the check-out. The other is Adam Howse, a relatively new member of the community.

"I hope it goes well for the new chair," said Marie-Paule Tremblay, the chair for the past two years. She will step down in May but remain on the board to finish her seventh and eighth years — the B.C. Library Act legislates that library board members may only be elected for up to four consecutive two-year terms.

"We have a couple challenges on our plate," Tremblay said, although detailed strategies have yet to be hashed over at future board meetings.

"The challenge is always to keep the library in the eye of the community, to keep it relevant," said Tremblay, who works as the secretary for the École des Sept-Sommets. "So much information is available online, some people wonder what use libraries are anymore."

"We have to look beyond the original mandate of the library being a building with books to borrow," she said, noting "we have two computers that patrons can sign in to check email and for any other computer needs."

As another example, she pointed to interlibrary loans as a way that books not available in Rossland's relatively small library can be quickly brought in frOM other B.C. libraries.

Mayor Greg Granstrom attended the AGM in an informal capacity, and was thanked by the library board for council's continued support.

Nevertheless, another issue that may surface on the horizon — alluded to by Coun. Jill Spearn during budget discussions earlier this year — is how changes to RSS and MacLean may impact the library. Some feel it is fiscally prudent to consider ways that the public library can fuse with the two school libraries.

"We're not sure how that will impact the library," Tremblay said "but it's on the radar and if anything comes up regarding amalgamation, we'll consider it more thoroughly then."