Coquitlam Public Library – Report to the Libraries Branch - 2014
Introduction:
The Coquitlam Public Library has seen many changes in the past year and is continuing to look at all our work in order to become an even more effective institution for our community and its needs.
The City Centre Branch, which opened in November 2013, has become a natural hub for many of the people living in the developing area of the City’s core. The building is constantly busy with users from all demographics, from businesses and community groups who use our meeting rooms for classes and information sessions to children who come for assistance with homework. The building of the new branch, with added space for meeting rooms, small study rooms and a computer lab has made this a hub for not only the people who live in the densely populated core, but for people throughout the Tri-Cities. The availability of Wi-Fi, silent study space and a large children’s area also adds to the popularity of the library as a place to come become engaged, for a quiet space and as a learning facility.
In 2014, we had a 10% increase in the number of people who came to our 2 branches.
Demographics
The City of Coquitlam, with an estimated population of 141,132 according to BC Stats, is the 5th fastest growing municipality in British Columbia. (1) http://www.coquitlam.ca/planning-and-development/resources/community-profiles-demographics/census.aspx
The City continues to attract immigrants; approximately 41.7% of the City’s population (according to the 2011 census) were foreign born. This creates issues and opportunities for the library – from serving people who have never used public libraries before to assisting many foreign born children with programs and services which help acclimate them and their parents to the community.
Non-official languages spoken most often at home in Coquitlam: (with over 1000 speakers – in order by size of language): Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese, Farsi, Chinese (other), Spanish and Russian
Industries
Industries that shape our area: we are primarily a service sector community, the major employers being School District 43 and the City itself. The retail sector provides the largest number of jobs, followed by health care, education and social assistance, financial and real estate sector, hospitality and recreation and lastly, manufacturing.
Challenges facing CPL
As a growing community, Coquitlam faces challenges on many fronts, including housing, transportation, and public amenities such as schools in large new residential developments. We are in the process of purchasing a used book bus (our previous one was destroyed in a fire in May) in order to provide services to areas in the community that a) are far outside walking or an easy commuting distance from our two library buildings and b) have very little in way of City services at this time.
As with all libraries, Coquitlam Public faces budget issues involving the provision of materials in any number of formats, from books and newspapers to e-books, e-audio and instructional databases. With the instability in the pricing and borrowing model of e-content, the fall of the Canadian dollar, the need to maintain up to date computer systems and wi-fi, we struggle with the unknowns in a world of constantly changing hardware and software and the resulting cost increases. In addition, the move to the cloud is an ever increasing unfunded pressure.
There is a need to ensure that our staff stays up to date professionally so that they can provide current information in all its forms, from recommending reading materials to computer programs. In order to provide excellent service to a community, which includes many people who are new to the internet and all it has to offer, our staff must be trained not only to be aware of what is out there, but how to teach it as well. Our ever growing multicultural community has been identified as needing much in the way of training, especially English language classes and programs and this adds additional strain to our staffing complement.
The building of the Evergreen line will help solve some of the transportation issues in the region, but as with any major connector, we expect parking and other issues to arise.
And in the community … Challenges
The City has seen major changes in the past year, with an increase in population, changes in demographics, increased building and the continued construction of rapid transit to the centre of the City. The City faces challenges in the area of transportation, the building of facilities in newly developed areas (Northeast Coquitlam being a major area of growth) and re-development in existing neighbourhoods in older areas of the City (Maillardville, Austin Heights, etc). With a growing immigrant population, there is need to ensure that newcomers are welcome and get the skills they need to be truly part of the community. There is much pressure on City government to provide more services and infrastructure while keeping taxation at a minimum to attract investment and residents.
CPL Strategic Plan
We are in the final year of our strategic plan (2010-2015 http://www.coqlibrary.ca/docs/default-source/pdfs/news/strategicplan20102015.pdf?sfvrsn=2) and have done much work in achieving the goals set out five years ago.
We are actively engaged with our multicultural community through initiatives like the Local Immigration Partnership, the Welcome to Coquitlam event, the Interlink Library Champions Project, events at local ethnic malls and through programs in our library geared specifically to specific language speakers (Farsi Mother Goose program). We are enhancing literacy through programs like Reading buddies, Homework Help and a Book Club for new immigrants. Our participation in the Stories Galore and More program, which brings literacy to both children and adults in parks throughout the Tri-Cities area during the summer is another example of our working together with partners, especially the Tri-Cities Literacy Committee, to improve literacy at all levels.
We continue to provide outreach to seniors who have medical or vision issues in their homes and in care facilities. We work with the School District in providing outreach in schools and with local community groups that provide programs after school. We work with pre-schools in Coquitlam to provide early literacy skills. We work with two community groups to ensure that persons with developmental disabilities are welcome in the library and have monthly programs for them.
In the past year, we have expanded our opening hours to 9 am from Monday to Friday and continue our mobile library service (book bus), with a van that goes out twice a week. We have expanded our use of social media to include Pinterest and are working with staff to provide interesting and important information to our public, including knowledge about municipal, provincial, and federal governments, in addition to hearings on various public consultations. We are working with a group of business leaders to create a business incubator, making available space, equipment and expertise to develop the next group of business innovators.
We are working with staff to ensure that our library continues to streamline procedures in order to optimize resources, both financial and staffing in order to make the best use of our budget. We are continuing to upgrade our computer systems in order to provide staff and the public with powerful and efficient resources with which to work. We continue to translate materials to our major “second” languages, continue to add to our world languages collection and employee staff who can translate and catalogue in such languages so that users can search for items in our catalogue in the required characters (Persian, Chinese and Korean).
Significant Challenges
- Challenge of computer and systems replacement
- Outward looking programming to meet the needs of our entire community
- Planning of staff and budgeting for the changes required
- Staffing with the goal of being pro-active in the community and in remaining a leader in the provision of all types of information as well as being instructors
REPORT ON PROVINCIAL PRIORITIES 2014
1. Focus on equitable access – CELA , developmentally challenged
3. Focus on collaboration and cooperation between libraries (shared service model) Stores galore and more; Family Play and Learn
5. Community engagement and planning (TCLIP, Tri-Celerate, Library Champions)
Equitable Access (Library core value : enhancing access to information)
CELA
Coquitlam Public Library is a member of CELA (Centre for Equitable Library Access) which has been established to provide accessible collections for Canadian with print disabilities – in a variety of formats to support their choice in reading. Our library supports these Canadians with advice, training and information in the use of these collections. At present, out Community Services Librarian speaks to community members with print disabilities in their homes and partners with care homes and community centres, to ensure they have information about all the options available to them. We are and will be working with community partners (social service agencies and local physicians) to spread the word regarding this important service so that all members of our community feel connected to the world around them through newspapers, magazines and books. As part of this service, the Library partners with our Friends of the Public Library and acquired a donation of $4500.00 to provide our users with up to date equipment so that they could use the audio resources easily.
Songs Music and Crafts for the Developmentally Challenged (Core value: welcoming all levels of ability)
The Coquitlam Public Library has been serving the developmentally challenged by welcoming them and their caregivers to use library services (materials, using our digital players, etc.) for many years, through the Community Ventures Society and other groups. We made the decision that developmentally challenged members needed more active programming to better suit their needs. In 2014, we began a monthly and seasonal 2 hour program called Songs, Music and Crafts. Developmentally challenged members of the community and their caregivers, both in groups and individuals, are invited to come spend time developing skills and friendships through oral storytelling, music, singing and dancing and crafts. The library provides refreshments and audio-visual presentations to provide a festive atmosphere. Community partners have been very grateful for the service, noting that many developmentally challenged people are not openly welcome in the community and that coming to the library is considered a very special outing. At present, we have increased the groups coming to the library to also include the special needs students from a local high school. Our program proves that the public library can be a very important partner in providing services to this under-represented group in our society.
Collaboration between Libraries and other partners (Library Goal 1 – Strengthen communities, neighbourhoods and families; enhance literacy programs)
Tri-Cities Family Literacy Group – Stories Galore and More Program
The Coquitlam Public Library participates, along with the Port Moody Public Library and the Fraser Valley Public Library Terry Fox Branch, and other community partners (SUCCESS, Community Volunteer Connections, SD43 Continuing Education, SHARE etc.) in the Tri-Cities Family Literacy Group. The latter has been created to promote Family Literacy, which includes our summer Stories Galore and More program. The program, funded by DeCoda, offers story programs in parks throughout the Tri-cities in the summer. We also work with local City Parks Departments to build capacity by dovetailing on existing park programs.
Our summer facilitators, hired through the Committee, provide stories, crafts and books to children and provide literacy information to their parents and caregivers. We engage with them using volunteers provided through Community Volunteer connections and the Volunteer Language bank, so that information is given in a language that newcomers can understand. Coquitlam Public Library provides staff with a base of operations and manages the administration throughout the summer. The program ensures that people in areas of the City who may not be able to easily access the “library as building” can access the “library as service”. This is especially true for areas in Coquitlam that are too far to easily access, or are in areas that have a higher population of low income or new immigrant families.
Community engagement
Library Champions and Library Champions Book Club (Goal 1 – Strengthen communities, neighbourhoods and families)
As part of an Interlink project with federal funding, the Coquitlam Public Library invited members of our new immigrant community to come forward to become Library Champions – people who learned about our library and what it can do for newcomers. They in-turn went among the members of their communities to inform as to the importance of the public library in the community and how it could serve them. Library Champions are part of the program for one year, but we found that after their term, members were still interested in a connection with the library. With that in mind, we began a book club for library champions and extended this to a book club for newcomers – so that Champions and newcomers could come and meet, discuss their books and further their friendships and their work in practicing English.
We held a celebration for the terms end for our latest Champions group and each expressed how the program made a difference in their lives. Comments highlighted the following:
a) “It was the first time I had ever spoken to anyone outside my language and culture”
b) People developed friendships that were missing as new immigrants to a new community – this has been identified as a real problem among new immigrants (TCLIP report)
c) It allowed people to practice their language skills, which is the most important identified problem for new immigrants
Tricelerate Business Incubator (Library Goal 2 – Building community prosperity)
Coquitlam Public Library, as part of the City’s goal for developing business in the community, is working with the Tricelerate Business Incubator – made up of local entrepreneurs and the City’s Economic Development department. The goal of this partnership is to develop a mentor-driven knowledge sharing base to create sustainable growth of technology startups from the Tri-Cities. The Library will provide a place where people new to business can come for information and expertise to take their plans forward. We will provide technical assistance with up to date computing, business and graphics programs allowing them to create professional quality documentation and audio-visual materials. The entrepreneur in residence will be available to provide business and financial advice and library staff will provide research and materials as needed. The partnership moves forward in 2015 from the planning stage to an active program, available to people in the Tri-Cities. Outcomes will be determined in 2015 based on participation, funding proposals and success rates.