Powell River Public Library highlights from 2022 have been presented to qathet Regional District directors and City of Powell River councillors.
At the November 16 qRD finance committee meeting, chief librarian Rebecca Burbank outlined the accomplishments at the library for the past year.
“We’re really proud of everything that has been done this past year,” said Burbank.
She said there was the return of the summer reading club, which is a tradition the library has had for a very long time. These are programs to engage children aged four and up on reading, literacy and engaging with the library during the summer. Following the COVID-19 restriction in 2020 and the flood at the library in 2021, she said this is the first year the summer reading program has been held since 2019.
There were 29 programs and events over six weeks, with more than 330 attendees.
“It’s a program we’re very proud of and happy to continue with,” said Burbank.
One of the other successes was the launching of the Indigenous and Métis collection, said Burbank. It was launched in September 2022, leading up to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. This was made possible through grant funding from the province. There was collaboration between Tla’amin Nation and library staff, according to Burbank.
“They generously provided input on guiding the goals for that collection and our selection is moving forward,” said Burbank. “It has been very well received so far. There are titles for adults, youth and children. The main goal for this collection is to draw attention and make more available voices, stories and histories of Indigenous peoples and Métis.”
On another topic, Burbank said there is a very dedicated community of writers in the region and in 2022, the library featured Gabrielle Prendergast as the inaugural writer-in-residence.
“This is a program I mentioned to the regional board last year and it just wrapped up on November 4,” said Burbank. “Gabrielle was here in town for just over two months, working with our staff and providing a writer-in-residence service.
“She also went out to schools, which was a fantastic opportunity. Sending her out to schools, we are meeting children and youth who maybe aren’t engaged in writing yet, so that was one of the biggest wins. We got a lot of really great feedback on that.”
Burbank said while Prendergast was in town, she took part in 35 events and programs. The writer-in-residence also supported 33 writers in the community with no-cost one-on-one sessions. There were 756 total attendees for events involving Prendergast.
“It was a great success,” said Burbank. “She was a fantastic person to have as our writer-in-residence and we are looking forward to continuing this program in 2023.”
Burbank then provided a breakdown of library card distribution. There are a total of 6,588 cards in distribution, with 68 per cent in the city, 26 per cent in the regional district, one per cent in Tla’amin and five per cent listed as other.
