Last week, the library directors who comprise the Kootenay Library Federa-tion met here in Creston for the first of two meetings for 2011. At the end of the formal portion of the meeting, librarians from Greenwood to Sparwood exchanged up-dates and information on their libraries.
There are 19 libraries in the federation and each is an essential part of their own communities and have unique programs and services tailored to that community. Two of the libraries, Nelson and Cranbrook, have a database available to their patrons the rest of us can’t afford and they are happy to share with any of our patrons who have a OneCard.
The database is Ancestry.com and we have several library patrons with a keen interest in genealogy. Unfortunately, we have not been able to provide access to this database for them. Not only is the initial cost prohibitive but a library is only allowed access from within the library and then dependant on how many licences the library purchases.
Both Nelson and Cranbrook librarians let us know the database is available to anyone coming into their library with a OneCard. Anyone wishing to take advantage of this service might want to call ahead to book the computer, as Ancestory.com is among the most well used databases in their respective libraries. You can also check their websites for the hours each library is open.
The OneCard is still rather confusing as it is a provincewide program but not all the libraries — very few in fact — have integrated systems that would allow access to all library accounts. Each library you go to outside your own system requires your home library card for verification along with picture ID. They will then add you to their system as a OneCard patron. Once you are in their system, you are entitled to use their library as you would your home library, with some exceptions depending on the library. Our library has found using the patron’s home card barcode works well unless the patron already possess a OneCard and then that will be used.
With the oneCard, you can pick up items from any library in B.C. and return them to any library. If you are over on Vancouver Island, you can pick up audiobooks for your trip back and return them to Creston. Not surprisingly, we have an increasing number of items from the Cranbrook library making their way to our dropbox. Coincidentally, a member of our city band is also a staff member of the Cranbrook library. The band has its weekly practice here in the library and the items to be returned are picked up and taken back to Cranbrook.
At the same time as the librarians were meeting, the summer students from all the participation libraries gathered at the college for a Summer Reading Club workshop.
Our students came away full of ideas and information from other centres and have applied them to their preparations. Sign-up forms are now available in the library and the program co-ordinators are also available to answer any questions you might have.
If you have a teen reader in the house who might like to join in with other readers across the country this summer, the Teen Reading Club is online with forums, book lists, contests, blogs and book and author chats. You can access the site from our website and join in the program. In looking at how the library can best serve teen readers and future library users, the Teen Reading Club demonstrates how interactive elements, social networking, online access to vast amounts of information, and all the other advantages of technology can enhance a book and the experience of reading.
Libraries have a challenge in bringing teen readers into the library when technology makes it so easy to be anywhere but a library to access books and like-minded people to discuss those books. Having said that, if I were a teenager the online reading club would be wonderful but there would still be the joy of going into the library to pick up the books and to browse the new books. Our library works to keep teens interested in the book, not just the technology.
Ann Day is the chief librarian at the Creston and District Public Library.