Chestermere Library Alive and Healthy

CHESTERMERE – In today’s world with technology in the palm of your hand it would seem there is an ever increasing concern of the survival of the public library. Well in Chestermere it would appear that the fears that are often shared about the demise of the library are far from the reality. The Chestermere Public library held their Annual General Meeting and celebrated their 5th Birthday on November 8th. Noelle Trung, Library Board Chair, hosted the evening and presented an overview of the many events that were part of the successes leading up to the celebration. The year began with the Tea House, the Summer Reading Program combined with the Stuffy Sleepover, the Country Fair Parade float promoting the Loop Around the Lake, Art Days featuring the Beatnik Café and finally the Black Library. The Black Library attracted people from as far away as Seattle and Texas. Mayor Matthews and Library Director Gemma Noon received a picture showing their involvement that will be hung in the library. Trung also announced the library has received a grant that will assist in providing a designated area for the seniors reading materials.
Two members, Brigette Taylor and Pete Tindall, are leaving the board and they were both presented with a parting gift for contributions over the years. Bernie Maillot, the Loop Around the Lake (LAL) organizer was also presented with a gift in appreciation of the funds raised for the library. The LAL raised over $8600 this year; the event and the funds keep getting bigger which is very encouraging for Maillot.
On a sadder note, Ruth Wright paid tribute to John Clarke. John moved with Wendy Clarke to Chestermere, Alberta in the late ’90s where he contributed exceptionally to the Chestermere community and made a significant contribution towards establishing the library. Clarke passed away in August 2012.
Michelle Toombs, the CEO of the Marigold Library System, had a few words to say. Since Chestermere has exceeded the population magic number of 15,000, the Alberta Library Legislation indicates that Chestermere must have a member on the Marigold Executive. A thanks was given to Marilyn King for being the Marigold Board representative for the Town of Chestermere.
One of the new services that have been introduced in the past year is called Freegal. It is a music database of 3 million songs that Marigold cardholders can download (3 songs per week) and you get to keep the downloaded songs. There are 400 genres from recent releases as well as golden oldies listed in the Sony catalogue. This is proving to be really popular and they hope to draw in new library patrons in different age groups and acquire more cardholders.
RISE Expansion Pilot – this is a Video Conferencing pilot where there are 98 libraries participating. There will be more programs, and more opportunities for groups and individuals to come to the library in Chestermere and interact with community members elsewhere.
The Chestermere Public Library is alive and well and the prognosis is for a bright future.