In order to get through the back of the library lately, we advise tying a rope around your waist so at the very least you will find the way back to where you came from or you can be pulled to safety if you fall victim to unstable towers of books littering the floor. There are numerous projects going on behind the scenes, some involving checking statistics on numerous boxes of books, and equal number of boxes of periodicals waiting to be deleted from our system or, my favourite, dozens of file folders from a file box that hasn’t been looked at in six years. The file box was taken over to the museum weeks ago but the files remain untouched on a table.
It has been pointed out the library itself is a reflection of my office and I won’t deny that. An excuse I much prefer is that the library is thriving and that means staff are mainly occupied with the front desk and patrons. Like my house, the drudgery is set aside for the more exciting work.
In 2011, we added 556 brand new library accounts to our system and we have not slowed down one bit so far this year. For a library our size, that is a very healthy number of new patrons taking advantage of library services. We also took a look at the statistics involved in our ebooks and downloadable audio books, and again, we are up there with the big dog libraries. For the five months, Library to Go has been available, a total of 909 ebooks and audiobooks have been “loaned” out to Creston patrons. Fernie’s number is 462, Grand Forks 746, Nelson is 1,770 and Cranbrook is 1,811.
Despite shelves now overflowing with books and DVDs, chaos behind the scenes and what has been a very tight budget, our library has not stopped thriving since we relocated to 16th Avenue. We haven’t made any major changes, we don’t have enough parking on the Wednesdays the embroidery club is here and our Internet can often be so slow patrons can go for lunch waiting for a site to load.
In the council briefs in last week’s Advance, there were several items that very rapidly became topics of conversation among library staff and patrons. One of them was the news that the town will again be spending money on a firm from out of town to revisit a program the town of Creston has previously paid for, and that is to devise a branding strategy for Creston. In the short time I have been here, I participated in what I imagine was a very costly project to revitalize the downtown area, with no doubt the same goal in mind. In his report, Mr. Eckersley also pointed out the existence of many other consultants’ reports, none of which have been the least bit effective in making this town turn into something it isn’t.
It seems to many of us that whoever is making these expensive decisions to call in so-called experts to reinvent our town is either in denial about the realities of Creston or has no grasp of the obvious. The library can thrive and successfully invite participation from the community all on our own, and so could Creston. Creston doesn’t need to grow; it needs to thrive and the only way that can happen is to take advantage of what already exists and accept that most of Creston will cross the border for gas, shopping and recreation. We will also go to Nelson, Cranbrook and Kimberley for recreation and for their restaurants and larger stores. As some of the kids who come to the library might say, “Suck it up and deal with it.”
We have a stunning wildlife area; enhance it, focus on the visitors who will come from Europe to watch the birds and take advantage of our uniqueness. We have an area like no other for growing things, for gardens and for walking. How many people visit Butchart Gardens every year or Minter Gardens and how many tourists head to Great Britain just to visit gardens like Sissinghurst or to see the world famous and impossible to get tickets for Chelsea Flower show? I have never heard of the town taking advantage of what already exists here and what tourists can’t get in Nelson or Sandpoint. Use what you have, ask what people want and take good care of those people you are trying to attract.
Ann Day is the chief librarian at the Creston and District Public Library.
