Correction
The photo caption for this story misspelled Anthea Dacruz-Smith's name as "Eacruz-Smith" based on an incorrect reading of her name-tag. It has been updated with the correct spelling. The Gazette apologizes to Dacruz-Smith and resolves to get its eyes checked.
St. Albert’s roving librarians have won a provincial award for bringing books to the masses during the pandemic.
The St. Albert Public Library announced June 2 that its Community Outreach Team had won the Library Association of Alberta’s Punch Jackson Award of Excellence for outstanding community service in 2021. It was one of three Alberta recipients of the award, which was announced at the association’s general meeting on June 1.
“We are pleased to be presenting this award to a team whose multi-dimensional work has had such an impact on your community, both during and beyond the pandemic,” association president Kirk MacLeod said in a press release.
In an email, St. Albert Public Library CEO Peter Bailey said the library’s outreach team shone in 2021, creating safe opportunities for city residents to connect with the library and each other during the heat of summer and the cold of winter.
“I'm so proud of all they achieved, and what it meant to the community in such a trying year.”
Library public services manager Stephanie Foremsky said the library’s outreach program started around a decade ago after the library bought an outreach van. Operatives used the van to bring books and activities to seniors’ homes and remote corners of town.
The outreach team took on new importance during the many times the province ordered libraries to close to the public during the pandemic, library staff said in a press release.
“When COVID hit we had to find ways, as everyone else did, to do things that had minimal interaction with people,” Foremsky said.
The outreach team dispensed grab-bags of books at locations such as the Grosvenor Coin Laundry, Foremsky said. They also imported the idea of “Trail Tales” from warmer climes by posting snippets of stories on old election signs and posting them along trails for people to read as they walked.
The Trail Tales were a hit, likely due to their schedule-free accessibility and the popularity of St. Albert’s trail system, said outreach team member Emily Brady. Hundreds came out to read spooky stories during the library’s two Halloween editions of the event.
The outreach team experimented with scavenger hunts early in the pandemic, placing clues in public locations, but had to drop them as people and the weather kept taking the clues, Foremsky said. More successful were the Forest Friends tours, where youths took nature-themed self-guided tours of a forest near the library and sang songs in Millennium Park. The team also ran numerous online, senior, and multi-generational programs which reached hundreds of residents.
Foremsky said the team’s Storytime in the Park program became much more popular during the pandemic, as it offered mask-exempt youths a chance to practice reading and motor skills. The events see outreach staff visit green spaces in St. Albert to read books to and sing and dance with kids and parents.
Parent Ashley Malin said she brought her kids to Storytime sessions every week during the pandemic.
“Being outside, it’s a lot safer,” she said of the program, and it gave her kids a chance to have fun learning with others.
“The kids love it.”
Foremsky said Brady and outreach teammate Anthea Eacruz-Smith are fabulous people who care about their community.
“I think their cup is filled when they see how impactful their presence in the community is.”
Check the library’s community outreach calendar for a full list of outreach activities.
