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Provincial Library Grants Report 2014 – Sechelt Public Library
/ Sechelt Public Library5797 Cowrie Street
PO Box 2104
Sechelt, BC V0N 3A0
Submitted by: Margaret Hodgins, Chief Librarian
Date: March 31, 2015
INTRODUCTION
The Sunshine Coast Regional District is bound on three sides by water and on the fourth side by mountains. No roads connect the district with the rest of the province which relies on ferries and aircraft to access the mainland or other coastal communities such as Powell River.
The two major centres, Gibsons and Sechelt, serve a population of 28,619 people (2011 Census) – 3 municipal districts and 5 municipal districts. Citizens travel up and down this coastal area utilizing services, including both libraries,in all areas.
The Village of Sechelt sits at the mid-point of the Coast and the Sechelt Public Library catchment area services 15,338 people including the 5 communities of the District of Sechelt, the Sechelt Indian Government District, Egmont/Pender Harbour, Halfmoon Bay and Roberts Creek.
A popular vacation and retirement destination, tourism and the arts are emerging sectors but forestry and mining are still strong. According to Statistics Canada 2011 reporting, 83% of the catchment area population is 15 years old and older. The 50+ cohort in our catchment area is 20% larger than the same provincial cohort. The 75+ cohort in our catchment area is 80% larger than the same provincial cohort.
The Sunshine Coast prides itself on sense of community, collaboration and resource sharing. We have a reciprocal borrowing agreement with Gibsons and District Public Library, located 23 km to our south. A member of Public Library InterLINK, the library also participates heavily in a coordinated interlibrary loan system between the federation members. In addition, the library provides space to the District of Sechelt’s archives. In 2013, primary roles for the Sechelt Public Library were identified as being a popular materials library, preschoolers’ door to learning, provider of reference services and supporting the community as an independent learning centre.
The Sechelt Public Library’s Chief Librarian left in September of 2013 for new opportunities in Alberta and the current Chief Librarian was instated January 2014.
Mission
The mission of the Sechelt Public Library is to be a friendly gateway to ideas, knowledge, information and literature for life-long learning and enjoyment.
Values
The Board of the Sechelt Public Library values:
- Excellence in service.
- Community focus with the Library as a safe community centre and gathering place –
“Meet You @ the Library!” - Accountability of public funds.
- Respectful relationships, freedom of thought, privacy and confidentiality.
Challenges
The library faces a space challenge with overcrowding, which contributes to issues of accessibility, in the public areas and staff workroom. A consultant’s report in 2011 described the library has having grown “to the point of bursting.” The library shares a municipal building with the District of Sechelt and with a new council elected last fall, the planning process is still a few years away.
With a population which is predominantly older and will continue to get older, we are looking at meeting the 21st century expectations of both our baby boom or zoomer population (50 to 70) and their elderly parents. Stimulating adult programming (with little programming space), easy access to collections (with two decades old furniture), the absence of tripping hazards (with old carpet), appropriate lighting and shelving (with two decade old florescent lights and 7 foot bookshelves), the high use of public computer stations and providing adequate digital and print collections, including large print, are just a few considerations. We are also looking to engage our 20-49 adult population.
Strategic Planning
A Strategic Planning session is scheduled for April 17, 2015 and will be facilitated by John Talbot. The goal of the new strategic plan will be to re-align our current mission and vision, in light of emerging issues and opportunities that are happening in public libraries as well as our changing community, and implement a course of measureable outcomes.
In 2013 a Strategic Plan was published with the following ongoing strategic directions:
- Develop the capacity and profile of the Library Board to provide effective leadership.
- Provide the staff resources required to deliver excellent services.
- Develop plans and programs to provide high quality and efficient services to meet the needs of all residents of the Sunshine Coast.
- Become a valuable partner of choice for key community organizations and agencies.
- Ensure that the technological infrastructure effectively supports operations and services.
- Develop a plan for the library facility that will permit expansion of space to meet the needs of the community as it grows over the next ten years.
- Ensure stable and adequate funding at a level sufficient to provide core library services consistent with the library’s mission and to meet the needs of the community.
GOVERNMENT PRIORITIES, GOALS, PROGRAMS AND SERVICES,PARTNERSHIPS
- Government priority:
EQUITABLE ACCESS
- Library goals and/or accomplishments that supports the priority:
Goal to develop plans and programs to provide high quality and efficient service to meet the needs of all residents of the Sunshine Coast.
As noted in the introduction, the 50+ cohort in the Sechelt Public Library’s catchment area is 20% larger than the same provincial cohort. The 75+ cohort in our catchment area is 80% larger than the same provincial cohort. As the Coast lags behind the province in the numbers of newcomers to our area, the aging demographic remains a priority in our region. 50% of library cardholders are 50-79 years old and 6% are 80 years old and older. Accessibility has become a priority issue to serving our residents well.
- A key program and/or service that connects to this priority:
In 2014, administration was alerted to the significance that sloped shelving could make to accessibility from a patron who had seen sloped shelving at another library. Due to space limitations in the current facility, the physical collection occupied storage seven shelves in height. The bottom two shelves were virtually inaccessible because patrons needed to squat or kneel on the floor to read call numbers and titles.
Library staff re-organized the Fiction and Non-fiction areas of the collection and sloped shelving was installed on the bottom level. A few leftover shelves were installed on the second bottom shelving, emphasizing the convenience and difference in accessibility this change makes to the collection.
- Key partnerships that support this priority:
With funds provided by the Friends of the Sechelt Public Library, sloping shelves were purchased and our provincial grant funds assisted in installation. By far, this has been the most successful and popular initiative undertaken by the library in years.
The Friends provide a supportive role to the library promoting public awareness, supporting the library’s mission and vision, and raising funds in support of the library for purchases that are not in the library’s operating budget.
- Outcomes:
•“I love the…new look for the shelves and our luck to have such a great library in our town.”
• “Thank you for the sloping bottom shelves. I can finally see the books on the bottom!”
•“ Yet ANOTHER very positive comment about the lower slanted bookshelves.”
•“Before I had to get down on hands and knees to see those books and I can’t do that. I have arthritis and if I get down there, I can’t get back up.”
Sandy Friedman, Co-chair of the Sechelt Friends of the Library: ”Many seniors complain about how difficult it is to access books from the bottom shelves in the library. It means that they have to get down on the floor and then get up again—both of which are difficult. The sloping shelves allow them accessibility because all they have to do is to remain upright and just bend over."
- Government priority:
Increased connections and supports for Education Transformation and the bc jobs plan - Library goals and/or accomplishments that supports the priority:
As noted in the 2013 Strategic Plan, the Sechelt Public Library values the importance of literacy and education and regards learning support as one of its core services.
- A key program and/or service that connects to this priority:
/ The Sechelt Public Library hosted a reading by authors Christy Jordan-Fenton and MargaretPokiak-Fenton of Fatty Legs: A True Story. This book is part of the community Coast Reads program developed for Sunshine Coast elementary and secondary students. School District No. 46 bussed 25 children to the reading where students met and chatted with the authors. One author is a survivor of residential
school and the other author is her daughter-in-law who encouraged her to share her experience. The story revolves around a young nomadic Inuit girl who begs her family to allow her to attend residential school because she wants to learn to read and the cruel treatment she receives once she attends. Sensitive and redemptive, the story makes a difficult topic and important Canadian issue accessible to middle grade readers.
- Key partnerships that support this priority:
Sunshine Coast Literacy Coalition – as a member of the Coalition, the library provides voting and organization support for literacy programs.
• School District No. 46 • The Festival of the Written Arts
• The Gibsons and District Public Library - Outcomes:
/ As a result of this collaboration, 25 school children attended the program and talked about residential schools with a survivor. As a result of hosting this event, the Sechelt Public Library was invited to be an organizing partner of the Aboriginal Storytelling Festival taking place later in 2014. This success of this partnership led to the Library’s partnership with the Coast Reads program in 2015 and supporting the School District and the Festival of Written Arts. Through parnterships like these ones, participation in all library programs increased from 151 participants in 2013 to 617 participants in 2014.
- Government priority:
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND PLANNING
- Library goals and/or accomplishments that supports the priority:
Actively participate in the community and community events. - A key program and/or service that connects to this priority:
In 2014, the Sechelt Public Library was approached by a member of the Sunshine Coast Seed Alliance about setting a seed library for the community. Each spring, the One Straw society has a sale of organic and regionally grown seeds but no one knew what to do with the unsold seeds. With a very short window of opportunity to make this program work, staff and several community partners started the distribution system and provided supporting programs. Increasingly, citizens in our area are encouraging self-sufficiency and government support for sustainable agriculture issues.
- Key partnerships that support this priority:
Sunshine Coast Seed Saving Collective (SCSSC) was founded by citizens of the Sunshine Coast who wanted to create food security, learn to complete plant cycles, and reconnect the communities of the coast to the heritage of our food ecology. The SCSSC holds seed saving workshops for advanced and beginners, records seed varieties being saved across the Sunshine Coast, and has implemented several seed libraries along the Coast.
At the Sechelt Public Library, the SCSSC provided expertise in recommended library resources, packaged and labeled seeds, and helped to facilitate a seed saving workshop.
- Outcomes:
58 packages of seeds were distributed to 26 community members and a seed saving workshop drew 12 people to learn how to let tomato seeds rot in order to remove the gel surrounding the seeds. For our community and the last minute creation of this program, these numbers considered highly successful. This year, plans are already in place to receive a group of new seeds in early April and partner with a local community garden to provide gardening support for library users. The library has benefitted by developing its permaculture and seed saving print collection and drawing new users into the library.
SUMMARY
The Sechelt Public Library continues to provide our community with essential access to computersand technology but we are hearing from our users about the desire for “unplugged spaces” meant for gathering, sharing and community building. In 2014, public computer use was up 7% and use of digital literacy materials increased by 26% but program attendance was up 221%.
As rural community libraries often inhabit library buildings built decades ago, and small municipal budgets are not able to set aside capital costs for major renovations or expansion, a simple shelving change has inspired us to think outside the box to respond to the needs of our community.
In addition to two heavily used libraries, we have numerous government supported agencies which provide work skills training, settlement services, literacy programs and referrals services to this population- including two BC Works centres, a campus of Capilano University, the SchoolDistrict,and community service agencies. Our challenge in 2015 will be to maintain the educational partnerships, provide technology which will inform all ages of our community, and continue to build a solid foundation with eyes firmly on the future.
M. HodginsMarch 23, 2015