As we gallop headlong into Library Month (where is September going?), I find myself anything but saddle-weary. The fact that we’re all about partnerships — pahdnahships in cowboy parlance — guarantees a smooth trail, with friends around the campfire. Pass those beans.
Our campfire buddies include the Columbia Basin Trust, Columbia Basin Alliance for Literacy, the Heritage Credit Union, and more. With School District #8 we’ve developed school visits and a courier service; with EcoSave, we brought you the Kill-a-Watt power consumption monitor. And we’ll be amblin’ back to Winlaw School on the third Thursday of each month with our mobile collection.
We’re looking for a partner to develop a technology petting zoo, so you can look your tech hoss in the mouth, so to speak (that is, get some hands-on time with all those cool devices). Contact Chief Cowgirl — uh, librarian — June Stockdale if you’d like to pahdnah up: jstockdale@nelson.ca.
Kootenay Library Federation is partnership writ large. There are 19 libraries in the KLF, spanning the East and West Kootenays. There’s strength in numbers, no matter what trail you’re riding: KLF arranges author readings for all ages (Kate Bridger’s Nest Building interior design workshop on September 26 is a KLF-organized event), helps the bottom line through consortium buying, and brings us all together every few years to butt heads with good ideas. This year, the Kootenay Library Conference in Fairmont Hot Springs even offers a workshop on building partnerships. At the end of the day, we can soak our travel weary bones (and if anyone tells me to go soak my head, I might do that, too).
Campfire brew gets better in October when we launch our fall fundraiser. For the second year, community partner Oso Negro will create a special blend we’ll call Page Turner: Percolating Plots and Passionate Pursuits, set in whatever countries those masters-of-the-bean come up with for a rich, dark roast.
Chocolate is close to this librarian’s heart (actually, all of us here at NPL) and so Nelson’s Chocofellar is also a beloved partner. They work their magic with their wonderful light and dark chocolate bars, and we create literary book-spine labels to tickle any booklover’s palate. Riders of the Purple Raisin by Zane Grey, anyone? The biggest problem we have with this partnership has to do with consumption — we are perhaps our best customers — but then, partnership begins at home.
Which is a good segue into another sort of home-based partnership, because the library — community hub that we are — wants to spread the wealth of our busy library to community groups who’d like to reach out. “Connect”, after all, joins “imagine” and “discover” as the three key ideas that turn our wheels.
Mosey on down, sidle up to the special table set up in our lounge area, and let folks know what your gang is up to. In the past we’ve hosted Kootenay Co-op Radio and Learning in Retirement, among others. To pahdnah in this way, contact Anne at 250-505-5684 or adegrace@nelson.ca.
Galloping horses and running metaphors aside, it’s good to have friends, and the library is the place to find them. Pull up a stump and join us. It’s always warm and friendly here.
Until then... happy trails to you.
Anne DeGrace is the Adult Services Coordinator at the Nelson Public Library. Her column runs every other Friday.