Okotoks is joining the rest of the country in celebrating our community’s living room, or as most people know it, the library.
Elvina Laboucane has worked at the Okotoks Library for 26 years, and has seen it evolve from a one-room building filled with books, to the large wealth of resources that it is today.
“On Main Street where the parking lot is now, right beside the old town building, that was the library,” Laboucane explained. “It was a leaky building, it had one of those flat roofs and every time it rained we ran to move the books quick.”
Since then the library moved to the location along the river, and it was expanded in 2005. She said the library has continued to evolve and has always maintained its role as a safe place for the community.
“I always remember when it was still that little library… the one boy would come running in and just pretend there was nothing wrong but you know he was being bullied,” Laboucane said. “But he knew that he could stay here until those kids had forgotten about him and they had gone home.”
The Town of Okotoks has declared October to be Canadian Library Month, shining the spotlight on the important role that libraries play in our community.
For those who may not have been inside of a library for many years, the days of the stereotypical librarian shushing everyone to a whisper are gone.
Diana Walker has been a volunteer with the library for 14 years, and said libraries certainly have undergone a transformation in recent years.
“When I was growing up, libraries in general were like churches and banks, you didn't speak above a whisper,” she said.
“Now, kids aren’t made to whisper,” Laboucane added with a laugh.
It’s just part of how the library has continued to adapt to fit the needs of the community said assistant librarian Lara Grunow.
“We like to think that the Okotoks Public Library is the heart of the community, key to the world. We kind of like to think of ourselves as a welcoming place,” she said.
The resources available have expanded from books to include, online reading material, video games, computer access, and even walking pole rentals. She said for libraries to stay relevant in the community, it’s important to keep on top of the latest trends and technology.
“Librarians have to make sure that we know what's out there because that’s what the public is going to want,” she said. “For example in bigger centres … lots of them have 3D printers. We haven’t had any ask for that from out patrons yet… but I could see a few years down the line, maybe we will have a 3D printer where people can create something and take it home.”
While new technology like Netflix has managed to put business like Blockbuster out of business, Grunow said libraries faced similar challenges with e-books, but rather than compete with it, they embraced it.
“There is always that talk about are e-resources going to put the library out of business? But we subscribe to these data bases, or to the services,” she said. “I think libraries are well aware that we just need to make sure that we're keeping up with what the community wants.”
The space in the library continues to be utilized by a variety of groups including non-profits and children’s programming as well as the 16,000 foothills library cardholders on a regular basis. Grunow said that the only real problem they’re having is that they’re running out of space to fit everyone’s needs.
“We are probably at our capacity, so within the next 10 years, Okotoks is going to need to have another branch, so whether this becomes the branch and we have a new main library somewhere else, I guess that depends on lots of things,” Grunow said. “I know our board is beginning that process with visioning where they would like to have the library situated.”
For more about the Okotoks Library, visit www.okotokslibrary.ca
