Popular destinations locally for many reasons and they're busy planning for the future
By
Mark Schadenberg
There’s a lot happening and hoopla
at the Woodstock Public Library currently.
On July 31, the library staff were
invited to dress up as super heroes or characters from Stars Wars and science
fiction tales. Naturally, the energy was amped as the young patrons in
attendance were also dressed up for a Halloween-like atmosphere.
Also in the past few days, there
was a news story on Heart FM which indicated the library received more than 400
online responses to its strategic planning questionnaire. The public library
had also recently hosted 2 public forums at the community complex to entertain
opinions and answer questions from their customers – library card holders.
Chief librarian or CEO Bruce Gorman
must now study the results as thoughts would have been offered from old and
young.
"Myself and a consultant will be
looking at the trends and coming up
with priorities and then it's really up to
our board to determine
the strategic priorities they want to move this library
forward with," said Gorman in a story posted
on the Heart FM radio station website.
One
aspect I thought was important about the process at the public meetings is that
the discussion's moderator was Stephen Abram, who is
the Executive Director of the Federation of Ontario Public Libraries.
Woodstock is not Tavistock,
or the other small communities such as Innerkip, served by the Oxford County
library branches, but Woodstock is also not London or a metro area with a
university.
While
strategic planning is all about assessing where the library should be in 5
years and exactly creating the blue print to get there, Hoopla is about adding
technology and new services to the 2017 version of the www.mywpl.ca
The
era of borrowing an actual hard cover novel is gradually disappearing, but
Stephen Abram when talking at the public meetings has a belief that 1/3 of all
readers want an actual book.
Audio
books for long car drives have been available for a long time and are certainly
popular. While my selection is music in the car, my wife would pick the
story-telling of Stuart MacLean (www.vinylcafe.com).
Be
sure to check out the website and the links to: “Getting Started With Hoopla”.
The www.mywpl.ca
site has been transformed in recent weeks.
It’s
a terrific addition to the overall library concept. My destination to the
Hunter Street building as partially-funded a century ago (1909) by Andrew
Carnegie is led by movies and music, as well as books for me, and also books
and movies for my children who are 8 and 11.
Hoopla
features main-stream movies of all genres, but also rare documentaries of special
interest topics.
When
you are streaming anything, it’s essentially always available, but like
borrowing an item from the library there is a timetable.
As
someone who follows sports closely such as baseball, golf, and hockey, I always
read. Sometimes the reading is game stories, athlete profiles and often history.
With
a library card and the internet, you travel with access to your books, movies,
music and more!
Maybe
I’ll see you at the library with your kids as Friday, Aug 11 features Smurfs:
Lost Village at 2 p.m.
The
library in Woodstock also has the following: Friends Of The Library fundraising
committee (used book sales), technology classes, book clubs, a system to place
a ‘hold’ on a particular book or movie, computer games for children, a writer’s
circle for aspiring creative writers, volunteer opportunities for teens, story
time for babies, assistance in your research projects, a newsletter promoting new
books on the shelf, quick access to on-line magazines, their wooden train set attracts
kids of all ages, to homebound services to have books ready for a family member
to bring you reading material, and of course the Canada150 series recognizing 150 Canadian
authors this year.
Woodstock Public Library event
LINKS:
www.mywpl.ca
www.mywpl.ca
http://markroyallepage.blogspot.ca/2017/06/woodstock-library-is-conduct-strategic.html
http://markroyallepage.blogspot.ca/2017/03/canada-150-is-about-recalling.html
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Woodstock Public Library is just one of many reasons
for you to call The Friendly City home
Call me today to start your 'home search.'
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