Those who supported the Altona Library's relocation were honoured at an intimate celebratory evening hosted by the South Central Regional Library at the new, bigger space in the Altona Mall.
The idea to move to library to the mall was hatched, and became reality, in just a year-and-a-half, and Laverne Siemens, a representative on the Board of Directors, said the effort is an example of what can happen when a community rallies behind an effort.
"We've got the parks, we've got the paths, we've got the trails, we've got the arenas. All of these things have been done because people from the community got together and made it happen," he said. "Yes, we had provincial funding and that's great, but in the end, it really requires local people to dig in, to get the job done and raise the funds."
According to Siemens, the move to a more visible location, which happened last August, has already paid dividends and traffic to the Altona branch has increased.
"Over last year, circulation has increased by twenty-five per cent which is higher than any of the other (five) branches coming out of the pandemic," he explained.
The evening was also a chance to thank the staff at the Altona branch.
"Every one of you stepped up and made the fund raising a real thing," said Siemens. "A former president of the Library of New York City said, 'the most valuable asset of the library leaves at the end of the day, and that's the staff.' I just want to endorse that and thank you for that."
Gratitude was also given to the Town of Altona and Municipality of Rhineland for their support of the relocation, and of SCRL as a whole.
"South Central Regional Library has been in the news for other things as well and that's been a bit tough, but I want to take this opportunity on behalf of the Board to thank the Councils for making such definitive statements of support for the work of the library. That is really appreciated. We can't overstate that," said Siemens.
Not to be left out are the dedicated patrons of the library.
"Those of you who come in here and go to our staff, who've been a little beleaguered at times, and said thank you and given their support. That is so appreciated, and they thank you for that," added Siemens.
"You people love this library," added SCRL Director, Cathy Ching. "It's amazing to see because they walk straight to that desk and I know the conversation isn't going to be about fines or over-dues. It's like, 'tell me what I want to read next'. The staff here have created a lovely library."
Fund raising chair, Jordan Siemens, believes libraries are arguably more important today than ever.
In his speech, Siemens referred to a recent presentation he took in from novelist, Chimamanda Adichie, on the danger of a single story.
“Her premise was that stories matter and that we orient our lives and our ways of thinking about the world around stories. And then when we use a single story to think about people, places, cultures or conflict that are default, assumptions and our conclusions and our decision-making can end up being incomplete or skewed and lead to misunderstandings preventing us from seeing a more complex, nuanced view,” explained Siemens.
“We've just moved through a period of crisis in our culture, in our country, and a conflict where single stories abounded, sometimes very different single stories depending on who is telling it, and I suspect it's going to take a considerable amount of storytelling and story listening before we're able to fully heal and move on. But the danger of a single story is always here. It doesn't just take a pandemic. I think as humans we tend to flock to defaults and to assumptions like flies to honey. It's easy and it's simple and it's clear, but it leads us, inevitably, to misunderstandings. We need to find ways to find other stories that are not just the dominant ones from loud voices to truly understand each other in the world, and that's what libraries are largely here to do. They are places to connect people to information and to connect people to people. They are places for stories to be exchanged and to learn about our world, to learn about different perspectives. They are places where young and old can brush past each other in the aisles, where newcomers and longtime settlers and Indigenous residents can make eye contact, maybe even share a brief story with each other while they're here.”
Thanks to the many supporters of the move, Siemens feels the Altona branch will be one of the jewels of the community.
