MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY – Mountain View County council has been given an update on activities at the Sundre Municipal Library.
The review came during the recent regularly scheduled council meeting, with library manager Karen Tubb speaking to councillors for about 15 minutes.
More than 30,000 people have come through the library’s doors in 2019. The Sundre library is marking its 70th year.
“We are a busy hub and we continue to serve Sundre and surrounding community,” said Tubb. “We are delighted to welcome everyone into our space.”
There are currently more than 1,000 library patrons.
Thirty-four volunteers are a big part of the library’s success, she said.
“Truly, we could not manage without them,” she said, noting that some of the volunteers have been at the library for decades.
The library not only has many books for borrowing, but also many other things for loan, such as telescopes, snowshoes and board games.
“We are proud of our book collection, and also our collection of other things,” she said.
Programs are provided at the library for people of all ages, including preschool activities and seniors' computer literacy programs, she said.
The library currently has 16 community partners.
A dozen groups meet regularly in the library, including the Sundre camera club, home-school groups and knitters, she said.
Eighteen e-programs are available at the library, including homework help programs.
The library’s free public Wi-Fi has seen more than 24,000 connections in 2019, not including those using the facility’s high-speed hub.
Many residents use the library to access e-content, including government forms, she said, noting patrons also use the facility’s fax machine and scanners for sending documents.
The library supports the small lending libraries boxes located throughout the town, she said.
“That’s been a really popular way of taking the library out into the community,” she said.
The library also provides books and other materials for borrowing at the Sundre seniors' lodge, she said.
Using the library saved the average user $228.79 this year, the amount saved for borrowing instead of purchasing books, she said.
“It’s a huge saving to our community,” she said. “Investing in public libraries pays very good dividends.”
Many youngsters are using the library these days, including for playing video games, she said, noting that those games give the kids a chance to interact with other youngsters, both in person and online.
“The beautiful thing about a library is it is open to everybody and it is safe,” she said.
Reeve Bruce Beattie commended the library’s staff and volunteers for their ongoing efforts.
The library is hosted a 70th birthday party on Dec. 11.
Councillors passed a motion accepting the report as information.
