The Sheep River Library has been busier than ever since it movedmoving into its new building in Turner Valley.
The Sheep River Library is celebrating its one-year anniversary and its new, expanded facility, which has enabled it to host more programs and house more items.
“It’s had a huge impact, the building, just with what we’re able to do,” said library manager Jan Burney.
The old facility in Black Diamond only allowed for one program at a time, but the extra space in the new facility can accommodate three of four activities a night, she explained.
The number of people taking advantage of programming has increased substantially and membership has grown by 40 per cent, she added.
The library has between 5,000 and 6,000 more items available such as books and DVDs than it did at the old location, along with movie equipment used to host documentary nights and classic movie matinees.
“We could never have done that before,” Burney said.
Today, the Sheep River Library partners with groups such as Literacy for Life, the Diamond Valley Boys’ and Girls’ Club and McBride Career Group to provide a variety of programs. Literacy for Life runs five weekly literacy programs for pre-school and school-aged children and the career group meets with people for one-on-one career counselling and hosts a class once a month on topics such as resume writing and interview techniques.
The library hopes to expand its programming in the future and is looking for tutors to help people with literacy or working towards their GED, said Burney. The library will also focus on helping people with computer skills in the fall.
Library staff wants to help people with lifelong learning goals, whether it is learning a new skill or helping someone communicate with their grandchild on Facebook, she added.
“We’re not a book exchange, we’re a lifelong learning centre,” Burney said. “Book exchange is just part of what we do.”
Black Diamond resident Larry Manning is one of the many people taking advantage of the new library. He said he would like to learn more about computers and explained feels the new library is nice, especially for a small town.
“Until this was built, I used to go to Okotoks all the time,” he said.
Manning still goes to the Okotoks Public Library because it has a larger variety of CDs and said he wished there were more at the Sheep River Library.
The Town of Black Diamond should have contributed to the capital costs of the facility, he said, but it is positive the Town pays operating costs.
The Town of Turner Valley and the Town of Black Diamond equally contribute to operating costs for the library and patrons from the two towns, as well as nearby MD of Foothills residents, pay the same amount for membership.
The Town of Black Diamond did not contribute towards the capital costs of the facility after residents voted against it in a plebiscite. The total project cost about $2.7 million, with the Town of Turner Valley paying about $900,000 and the rest split equally between the provincial and federal governments through the Canada Alberta Infrastructure Grant (Stimulus Fund).
Turner Valley resident Kristi Jennings has three children and said they mainly use the books at the new library.
“I also like the fact that they have all the computers, so if you need to do anything school-wise because we have more than one child, then they can just come and use the computers at any time,” she explained.
Jennings said she didn’t use the old facility in Black Diamond because it didn’t have as many resources and was small. The new library is impressive for a town this size and because it is part of the Marigold Library System, they can order books from other locations, she added.
