DIDSBURY - During her 19 years working at the Didsbury Municipal Library, manager Inez Kosinski saw plenty of changes and met many wonderful people.
At a recent celebration to honour her retirement, Kosinski sat down with many of her former co-workers, friends and other community members to swap stories over tea and snacks.
"We had an open house-tea social," said Kosinski. "They asked me a long time ago if I wanted to do a big deal and I didn't. I just wanted to be able to say goodbye. A lot of people ended up on the guest list. People I've worked with over the years, staff, people on the board who have been especially supportive. People who I've depended on. The friends of the library, other volunteers and patrons that have made it possible for me to do what I did."
Kosinski began with the library in May of 1999 after several years volunteering with the library board.
"When we moved here in 1993 I joined the board. The town council appointed me to be a library trustee in the fall of 1993. I served on the board, on and off, for six years, then I got the job I really wanted. They saw fit to hire me."
Before that, Kosinski first got involved with libraries in Black Diamond with the Marigold Regional Library system. She worked at lobbying municipalities to join the Marigold system. She also worked at libraries at Bow Island and Pincher Creek.
"When we moved here, I came into the library and asked if anyone was leaving because I'd really like to work here. They said, 'no, we all love our jobs.' So then I applied for the board. At that time there was the beginning of a whole restructuring with Parkland Regional Library system."
Kosinski explained that Parkland used to be a regional system for school divisions but with funding changes and school division border changes Parkland became a public library regional system.
"That was exciting," she said. "It was scary too having to convince these councils, but I felt I learned a lot having gone through that process in Bow Island and years before in Black Diamond. I think I had a lot to offer and it worked out not just because of me, of course. It was quite exciting.
"All the councils from Cremona and Water Valley up to Camrose had to be convinced to join the system and pay the money."
Kosinski said she has been fortunate to have worked with such strong people on the library board and with such great staff at the library.
She has also seen many changes and helped the Didsbury Municipal Library forge ahead with several strong initiatives.
"When it came to the 100th anniversary of the library in 2008, it was pretty exciting. We did a lot of research and discovered that we were technically the first library to establish in the province of Alberta under the Alberta Libraries Act."
Kosinski said it's been very inspiring for her and the other staff to know there has been continuous library service in Didsbury for 110 years.
"We got to take that presentation to the Alberta Library Conference in Jasper. We had a special reception, we did a lot of our research, we compiled photo albums and clippings. We always work closely with the museum, but we used their newspaper microfilm so we could bring out announcements on this new library, announcements about fundraising concerts that were organized by Jacob Shantz. We're integral to the history of this community. That makes it really interesting to work here."
Changes that Kosinski has seen in her time at the Didsbury library have included increased automation and integration of the computer system and library catalogue.
"We were quite unique for our size at that time in the late '80s-early '90s to have a computer system. It wasn't online as in the Internet, but you could go on the computer and look at the catalogue. Once Parkland was restructured they had a shared catalogue and we were online.
"At that time we had one computer for public access to just surf the net, or work on a resume, or whatever. We had another computer donated by the Gates Foundation, and we never looked back."
Another improvement Kosinski has seen is the Parkland Regional system using faster means for delivering resources.
"People's requests would arrive in days instead of weeks. When I first started in Black Diamond, it would be months. That's been exciting. We've always had really high numbers for uses of our inter-library loan service because we always teach our patrons that, 'oh, we don't have that book but we know how to get it for you or how you can get it.' We taught people how to get it themselves."
Kosinski said she's also very pleased with the work the library has done with print disabled resources, particularly staff member Donna Christensen, who was given a citation by the CNIB for her work at the local library.
"Print disabled clients are either blind, or they've had a stroke, or they're physically unable to hold a book, or temporarily unable to read for whatever reason. We have had more loans of DAISY books (digitally accessible information system), so it's a talking book-audio book on a single CD with MP3 files and that kind of thing. She was working directly with clients who needed the services and getting them the specific books they wanted."
Kosinski said they received such great feedback from clients about how the service makes such a difference in their lives.
"One client, who has since passed on, said it was a lifeline for her. So it's more than just books, more than just entertainment. Donna would have more DAISY book downloads and loans for her clients here in Didsbury and Mountain View County than the entire Calgary Public Library system for their patrons."
Another staff member, Donna Munro, has been working on the music in memory program.
"It's a program of using iPods and headsets and using music to help stimulate memory and cognitive development for people who are cognitively impaired such as dementia or senility, or even psychological illnesses like schizophrenia or depression.
"They're finding this program to be very helpful. It's not just any playlist, its personalized for that individual. The family is engaged to help identify which music matters most."
Kosinski said the program has been used in Didsbury at Aspen Ridge Lodge, Bethany Care and Unit #1 at the health centre.
"We've also started an innovative backpack program for the youth. We do try and meet the needs of everybody. We have 25 backpacks with different themes and packed with not only books but also with games or toys or activities.
"We also got funding support from Didsbury FCSS because they're not only excellent literacy tools but for parents, grandparents and caregivers in general, to play with children using the materials in these backpacks. So that builds literacy as well as social skills and communication skills. They're very popular."
Kosinski is hoping to do some camping with her husband during her retirement.
"My husband is retired and our kids are all grown and they live in different places from B.C. to Ontario. So we'll be traveling and visiting. We do love camping and we haven't been able to do as much as we like. I'm also hoping for more world travels in my future. It took to my 60s to get to Europe in the first place. So I want to go back."
The Didsbury library board is currently looking to fill Kosinski's vacated position as library manager. Carolyn Massel, library board chair, said an announcement on the new library manager is expected soon.
