Renewed efforts are ongoing to establish a library – the first ever – in the town of Legal. Citizens made attempts in the early 1980s but the idea died off until now.
Discussions informally began again last year after the Legal Chamber of Commerce sought ideas on what would make the town, 40 km north of St. Albert, a better place to live overall. Support for a library was so strong that the Friends of Legal Library Society (FOLLS) was established to keep the ball rolling.
Jenny Baril, the group’s president, said that one of the major hurdles is trying to change many people’s misconceptions that “boil libraries down to just borrowing books.”
“Our slogan for the campaign is ‘Books are just the bonus’,” she said. “There’s not too many people in town who necessarily object to having to drive to Morinville or Bon Accord to pick up a book but you miss out on all the community building and the shared spaces and all the programs and services that a library can offer.”
“Every time I have to leave my community to access a service elsewhere, that weakens my community because chances are I’m going to access other things while I’m at the library. I might stop for groceries. Eventually, you’re just draining the community one trip at a time.”
Baril also noted that there is a great disparity between cultural and sporting institutions and infrastructure in the town of 1,300. She praised its walking trails, green spaces, and sports facilities, then asked about where families could go if they prefer what libraries are known to offer, including special interest groups including travel discussions or video games or Lego or even just being a place for people like seniors to gather.
“There aren’t very many opportunities in town for anything outside of sports.”
To add to her argument, she proposed that a library does more in the way of community building even in terms of economic development.
Right now, FOLLS is putting the finishing touches on a proposal to bring to town council although it faces a few stumbling blocks. One such obstacle is the need for the SuperNet: the high-speed fibre optic network that would allow internet access for the library to access a lot of the services that people would expect. FOLLS estimates that they would need to raise $25,000 to have it installed.
Town council also needs to enact a bylaw to establish the library board before they can even do any fundraising. There’s also no piece of land that has been reserved for the site although some options are available including repurposing other properties.
“I think it would serve the town in an extra way to put the library right on main street and use one of those vacant properties for it.”
The process might be slow but Baril is hopeful. Her group conducted an online survey that resulted in an overwhelmingly 95 per cent positive feedback. She feels that the people agree about the need for a library. Now, it’s just a matter of putting things in order.
“Good things come to those who wait.”
