MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY - Libraries in the district have been doing great work for residents of all ages during the many months of the COVID-19 pandemic, says Mountain View County Reeve Angela Aalbers.
Speaking during the recent regularly schedule council meeting, Aalbers says staff and volunteers at area libraries have made outstanding efforts to serve their respective communities.
“I know that all of our libraries across the county have been doing an outstanding job through all of this COVID. You’ve really stepped up above and beyond the call of duty and we look forward to seeing what you are going to do in 2022 once some of these restrictions lift,” said Aalbers.
Counc. Peggy Johnson added: “It is an excellent service you guys provide. I just take my hat off for all the good work you do.”
Aalbers and Johnson’s comments came during a delegation appearance from the Olds Municipal Library.
During the appearance, library manager Lesley Winfield outlined some of the recent activities and plans going forward for the library, which is partially funded by Mountain View County.
“We really appreciate the funding we receive from the county, as well as your membership to Parkland Regional Library, which allows us to get extra provincial funding,” said Winfield.
In 2021, the library was open for about 1,500 hours, compared with a typical non-COVID year of about 2,500 hours, she said.
“That affected some of our stats, but at the same time we had a lot of interactions from the public, which is great,” Winfield said. “We were able to move online for a lot of our programming and of course we provide personal services to people who were stuck at home, and curbside assistance and delivery to people’s homes.”
In total, slightly more than 27,000 in-person visits to the library were recorded in 2021.
“We are very happy about that,” she said, noting that during an average non-COVID year there would be about 60,000 visitors.
There are now about 38,000 items in the library’s collection, an increase of 2,475 print items, 1,838 non-print items, and $5,855.06 in eMaterials.
There were 9,619 downloads of e-content, and 80,266 total checkouts.
The library has 2,591 cardholders, with more than 32,675 visits to the library’s website.
There were 2,767 computer use sessions in the library, with an average session lasting 40 minutes. There were also 50,358 connections to the library’s Wi-Fi.
The library’s 29 volunteers contributed 154 hours, saving the library about $3,500 in staffing costs.
The library will be renewing its strategic plan for 2023-26.
Currently the library has three main goals: creating new readers, satisfying curiosity and celebrating diversity, council heard.
Councillors received the library’s 2021 activity report as information.
