SATURDAY APRIL 14, 2012

Excerpts from the speech by MASTER OF CEREMONIES: DAVID PHILLIPS, CHAIR OF THE LIBRARY BOARD

WELCOME:

It is indeed an honour and pleasure to welcome you this evening to our Book Lovers Ball. We have a room full of library lovers from many walks of life. I would especially like to welcome our two guest authors, Terry Fallis and Douglas Gibson. As well to welcome our Township Council that supports the library both financially and through the time that they give to help us to best library we can be. I would like to welcome and thank our sponsors that have contributed so much to this evening. There will be more about our sponsors shortly. To all of you that are gathered this evening, welcome and thank you for showing the importance of the public library in our community.

HISTORY:

First and foremost, we must thank Joseph Gould… a name many of you are no doubt familiar with. In 1886, he announced that he wanted to construct a new building for the Mechanics Institute on the piece of land he owned on Toronto Street. Unfortunately, Mr. Gould passed away a couple of months later… fortunately for all of us, he had the foresight to include his wishes in his will and he had moved the project forward quickly too… he had already approved the architect’s plans for the new building. What a generous gift he made to the Township of Uxbridge. It was built by John Stokes of the nearby community Sharon, who also built Joseph Gould’s home here in Uxbridge, along with the old mansion house hotel.

The official opening was on December 9, 1887. The Minister of Education was present and he proclaimed that the building was the first donation of its kind in the province, and, that the library was the best in the province for the size of the town! The building cost $4,200 and had about 5,000 books in its collection… the clock cost $315.

In 1895, the name was officially changed… from the Mechanic’s Institute to the Uxbridge Public Library… and in 1898, it officially became a “free library”. Before this time, patrons would actually come up to a wicket at the front entrance of the library where the librarian took requests. Not surprisingly, membership doubled within a year… once the public had direct access to the collection… and it has grown steadily since then.

Over the years, as many of you will probably remember, the library has gone through several renovations… continually adapting to the needs of the community… the exterior was restored in 1985… including a sizable and complementary addition to the south end in 1986. Most of this could not have been accomplished without the generosity of our amazing community… through volunteer work, donations and various fundraising projects… all of us here this evening now share in that long history of community support for its library.

FUTURE:

What does the future hold for libraries? Of course books are different now. We have the traditional book, still widely read in our community and globally. We have e readers and other electronic devices that are gaining in popularity. However, I believe that the library will always be a very important part of the community. It will be a meeting place and communication center for the exchange of ideas and a place to learn more and more about the world. I sit on the provincial library board and as I travel to other libraries, I see that focus on a place to gather. It is amazing to see the two genders, various cultures, ages and socio-economic backgrounds gathering in that special place called a library.

The philanthropy of Andrew Carnegie, who financed many libraries and put millions of dollars into libraries, felt that the acceptance of the idea was that free libraries should be available to all. But the design of the idealized free library was the subject of prolonged and heated debate. That was over a century ago and the debate about the role and place of public libraries continues today. I believe this debate is crucial as we look to libraries and meeting places of the future.

A variety of events have been planned for next year’s celebration including a gala fundraiser, The Book Lover’s Ball and Benefit at Wooden Sticks Golf Course on Saturday, April 14^th, 2012. We are hoping that over 150 literary-minded guests will come together and show their support for the Library.

This black tie event will be an evening to remember, including hors d’oeuvres, three-course dinner with wine, and dancing with live music performed by Hot Air - a local big band with
17 members. Guests will also have the opportunity to bid on fabulous prizes in a silent auction, in support of the Library’s expansion fund.

The Uxbridge Public Library, including our Zephyr Branch, are information resources, committed to fostering literacy and promoting life long learning throughout our community. Over 33% of Uxbridge residents are active Library cardholders and borrowed over 170,000 items last year. In addition, approximately 5,000 children and adults in our community attended over 230 Library programs!

The popularity of the Library, combined with recent budget cuts, an old but historical building, technological advances and the evolving needs of our patrons, means the demands on our Library system continue to grow year by year. To assist the Library in meeting increasingly diverse needs, we are in need of additional funding to help protect, enhance and expand important library materials, programs and services.

Supporting your public library is a unique and powerful way to support your community. The information enclosed describes opportunities for your company to use its marketing and community investment dollars to help make a real difference in the community that will not go unnoticed. You will be supporting one of the most important institutions in our town, helping ensure Uxbridge remains a very vibrant place to live.

‘For the Love of Reading’ Book Chat

Busy professionals who are on their lunch break, or, residents simply looking to have a literary discussion with others, are invited to chat about books they have read ~ are reading ~ or would like to read! B.Y.O.L. (bring your own lunch); beverages hot and cold will be provided.
* If this type of activity sounds like a fit for you, please come along to this inaugural gathering which will continue, if interest is sufficient, on the first Tuesday of each month.

Storytime for Children

Listen, laugh and learn! Discover great books, rhymes and/or songs. 18 months to 8 years old.

Storytime for Children ~ French

Le même, en français!

OPLW Reading Challenge

The challenge is simple… children try to read seven or more books, teens/adults to read at least one book… between October 15 – 21. Fill out a ballot listing the books you read by end of day Saturday, October 22, for a chance to win a ‘cool’ prize! Winners announced October 23.

Sidewalk Chalk Talk

Time to get creative and use that imagination! Help us celebrate libraries by writing or drawing a library-themed word or two on the sidewalks surrounding our libraries. Coloured chalk available at the circulation desks. Ages 1 – 99!

Library Patron Appreciation Open House

Stop in for refreshments and treats… and see what new items and services await at your neighbourhood library!

@ UXBRIDGE Public Library

@ ZEPHYR Public Library

ALL WEEK, at BOTH libraries:
Library Patron Appreciation Open House ~ OPLW Reading Challenge ~Sidewalk Chalk Talk

Write a story beginning with the word SPLASH (no more than 2 double spaced pages) and you could win a prize! Winning entries will be published on our website and displayed in the library. All participants will receive a little prize, just for entering a story! (Thanks to Baked At Frankie’s!)

Entires must be dropped off (with an entry form) by 5:00pm on Monday, March 21, 2011. Winners will be announced on March 30, 2011. Details and entry forms can be found on our website or at the library.

Food for Thought

It is a widely-held (and absolutely true) belief that for a fairly small town, Uxbridge has a very well-stocked library.  With over 60 thousand items between the two branches, it’s an incredibly diverse collection.  However, the libraries in major centres and big cities are often given much more funding by the government, and thus have larger collections.  This makes sense, as they service so many more people.  However, our opinion of city libraries changed drastically when Sean dealt with a couple who came into the Children’s Department one day, several months ago.

They had a little boy, and wanted recommendations for a good series for him to read.  Sean made a couple of suggestions, but continuously hit dead ends in acquiring said books for them (another patron had them out, this one was an audio book, this one was just plain M.I.A. – it was seemingly unending).  He finally suggested ordering the books in from another library – often a time-consuming process.

By this point, most patrons would have been fed up and simply have called it a day.  But not these two.  They were friendly, understanding – the model of stereotypical small-town generosity.  However, one of them let slip that they were in fact new arrivals to Uxbridge, and that they’d been living in Toronto until recently.  They went on to compliment the service and comment on what a wonderful library we had.  They told Sean that our staff were helpful and understanding, and that they liked our little local library as much as, if not more than, the one in Toronto.

This was a shock to Sean, as what he had always considered would seem limited and tiny to anyone from Toronto had satisfied these city-dwellers totally.  Even better – they went out of their way to tell him what a great place it was.

It seemed that our homey, little, local library is a much bigger deal than we had always given it credit for.  It occurred to us that size doesn’t always matter, even when it comes to the size of a collection in a library.  And maybe what really determines a library’s worth is the people.  In other words, a library is what you make of it – it’s up to the patron and the staff to make one really stand out.

Just food for thought.

What’s Happening: The Children’s Department is pretty busy these days.  A collage contest is being held for children ages 12 and under to celebrate the library’s 123^rd birthday.  The subject for the collages: “Why Do You Love the Library?”  Entries are due in by December 9.  Additionally, a “Harry Potter Potions” activity is being held on November 19 for kids in grade 3 to 7, with the cost being four dollars per participant.  For more information on what’s happening at the library, come pick up a newsletter at one of the circulation desks.

What’s New: In the Adult Department, we now have a sequel to Bram Stoker’s classic vampire novel: Dracula: The Un-Dead by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt.  We also have in a plethora of new audio books, including Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton and Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë.

Twice a year the hallowed halls of the Uxbridge Public Library are graced by the presence of one of the library’s biggest events of the year.  Not only is the Friends of the Library Book Sale a great opportunity for the library to make some extra money, it’s a gathering of like-minded individuals that creates a feeling of unity within the town.  The most recent book sale took place this past weekend, from October 30 to November 2.

Saturday morning found line-ups of eager book hunters waiting outside both library entrances, as early as 9:15 a.m., and the customers continued to pile through the doors throughout the day.  At the time of writing this column, the exact amount of money made through the sale is not known; however, the sale itself is a great generator of income for the library.

But the book sale is not as simple to organise as it is to peruse.  We at the library begin to amass donations for the sale months in advance, and we are never short of items to sell. The boxes pile up in the staff room, and the Friends of the Library must sort through every single book, with the assistance of student volunteers.

Transforming the meeting room into a usable site for the book sale takes several days of preparation, and even the process of moving books down the hallway can be a daunting task.  But the library’s book sale is more than just a sale.  It’s an event that many members of the community look forward to throughout the year.  It brings the community together, and it contributes to arguably one of the most important institutions of the town:  the library.

What’s Happening: On the P.A. Day (November 19), the library will be hosting a Harry Potter-themed event for kids grades 3–7.  Also, a retirement party is going to be held at the library for long-time staff member Ruth Street on November 10 from 1 to 4 p.m.  For more information on what’s happening at the library, come pick up a newsletter at one of the circulation desks.

What’s New: Thanks to a generous contribution by the Friends of the Library, the library is now in possession of $2,000 worth of British classic DVDS, including Fawlty Towers, Hamish Macbeth, and the complete Sherlock Holmes series, starring Jeremy Brett.