At its regular meeting of August 8, the council of the Village of Slocan resolved to write the Nelson Star to correct some information that appeared in Anne DeGrace’s column of August 5.
Although not clearly stated, there is an implicit message that Slocan voted “No” in the library referendum, voting against taxation to help fund Nelson library.
In fact, Slocan did not take part in the referendum at all, partly because of the cost that would have been involved to do so, but partly because our own library’s informal survey of residents, on the subject of supporting our Slocan library, showed that residents of Slocan were not in favour of taxation to do so.
Slocan also chose not to take part in the post-referendum planning process as there was a cost involved to be included, and no guarantee that any benefit to Slocan would result.
We Slocan residents have a great library of our own, and some exciting facts concerning it to share with all your readers:
Slocan Community Library has over 300 members from the village and surrounding area, from Nelson to Enterprise Creek; the library is staffed entirely by volunteers, who give of their own time (up to 300 hours and more per month), doing everything from cataloguing to sweeping the floor; the collection exceeds 10,000 books, videos, DVDs, and CDs, and includes subscriptions to many magazines (donations from patrons, who pass them on while they are still current); fiction is up to date, and our selection of gardening, building, crafts, and reference volumes is comprehensive; we are expanding our children’s and young adults section; although cataloguing is still in progress, 50 per cent of our collection can currently be browsed at slocanlibrary.ca
So, far from being disinterested in libraries, which non-participation in the referendum might suggest, Slocan and its residents are enthused and engaged with our very own library. We invite you all to come visit, view our collection, and take out a membership.
Mayor Madeleine Perriere
Slocan