By Greg Nikkel
The Weyburn Public Library has a full range of programs and services that will be continuing under the new branch manager, members of the Weyburn Rotary Club heard in a presentation on Thursday.
Cora-Lynn Sexton, children’s programmer, and new library branch manager Colin Evans spoke to the Rotarians, including an update on a service that is supported by the Rotary Club, Books for Babies.
Both the Rotary Club and the Weyburn chapter of the Superannuated Teachers Association of Saskatchewan provided $500 in support of this program, which promotes early childhood literacy.
Sexton brought an example of a book bag and two of the books, which are provided to new mothers in the Southeast Regional Library area. Inside each book cover is a sticker indicating that the book and information provided came courtesy of the Rotarians and of the Superannuated Teachers, along with the Southeast Regional Library. The two donations enabled the library to do up 100 of these bags to be distributed to new mothers.
Besides the book, each bag also includes pamphlets outlining the programs available at the library, as well as the programs and services available to young mothers, such as through Public Health and the Family Place.
Asked how these book bags get to the young moms, Sexton said they are provided to the public health nurse, and in turn they meet new mothers soon after a baby is born to ensure they get whatever they need as they care for their newborns.
Outlining some of the programs available at the library, Sexton noted she has programs for moms with young babies and toddlers, and programs for children such as “Think Tank” and “Studio A”.
In the Think Tank program, Sexton introduces children to a range of activities including writing code, robotics and science experiments. This after-school group grew popular enough that she had to divide it into smaller groups by age, with one group for seven-to-nine-year-olds, and the other for those aged 10-14 years.
She began a Lego club after a large amount of Lego blocks were donated to the library, and they had 42 people attend their first session. This number grew in February to around 75 people people coming out to build things with Lego. “They’re so popular, I don’t want to put any restrictions on it. I don’t want to exclude anyone,” she said, noting she keeps getting asked when the next meeting for the club will be held.
There are adult programs as well, organized by the library’s new adult programmer, Rheanelle Callfas, who started in her position in January.
The new head librarian, Colin Evans, introduced himself to the club, noting for two and a half years before he arrived in Weyburn he worked for the Lakeland Regional Library based out of North Battleford, looking after the rural branches in that area.
He was glad to come to Weyburn, noting that so far he has found the community to be open and progressive with lots of opportunities here.
He praised both Sexton and Callfas, and the other library staff, as providing an incredible number of programs and services which has brought attendance up significantly to the Weyburn branch.
In 2007, the library had 180 programs attended by 465 people, and a decade later, there were 801 programs attended by 6,621 people, “so that’s quite awesome,” said Evans. “We’re far more than just a depository for books.”
Some of the services available through the library include Hoopla, which enables people to download e-books, movies and music via the library; Overdrive, which has e-books and audio-books; Flipster, which gives patrons access to magazines; and SILS, through which library patrons can track their account online, and can search the library’s catalogue for books and materials, and put holds or reserves on materials also, all without coming into the branch or needing to use a library card.
The library also has a 3-D printer, and a children’s toy lending library, which he noted is fairly unique to the Weyburn branch. The 3-D printer is available to patrons, as long as they take the orientation session, which is offered twice a month for anyone who is interested.
