The St. Albert Public Library is now offering its patrons a way to keep track of their footsteps, thanks to a new program.
You can now pick up a pedometer the next time you stop by to get a couple of books, some CDs and a movie. It’s part of UWALK, a recently launched provincewide fitness initiative that is working to improve the level of physical activity among all Albertans. Pedometers, the project’s representatives say, are a successful tool to motivate people to do just that.
“Research shows that the more you measure your activity then you’re more likely to make the changes necessary,” explained Jill Carlson, communications co-ordinator with the UWALK Project. “UWALK is basically a way to get Albertans moving and trying to help people find their stride. Small steps count.”
“In a nutshell, it’s trying to get people to know what their baseline is and to find ways to either improve or expand on it so that they can set new goals and realize how to reach them.”
The program was developed by the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation at the University of Alberta and launched in both Edmonton and Calgary on Sept. 20. Its website (found at www.uwalk.ca) allows users to track their daily activity and includes additional resources for those who are participating in groups.
Getting as many people involved from the get-go is how organizers are trying to gear the project towards success. One way to accomplish this was to offer the pedometers to libraries.
Cally Davies, research associate on the UWALK Project, commented, “UWALK would like to increase the accessibility and availability of pedometers to the general public and ensure pedometers are available to all population groups in order to make the largest impact possible on Albertans’ physical activity.”
That worked well for the St. Albert Public Library’s purposes too.
“We thought this was a great initiative and jumped at the chance to get St. Albertans involved,” said public services manager Heather Dolman. “It’s not something that we’ve done before which is loan out equipment but it seems like a good way to assist UWALK to get pedometers out to people.”
Library card members are now able to reserve and borrow the pedometers for a three-week loan period. Dolman added that there are also city trail maps on the pedometer display for people to take. There are 15 pedometers available.
Those interested in learning more about the equipment and the program are invited to attend an information session presented by the UWALK team at the library on Thursday, Oct. 3 at 7 p.m.
For more information or to register for this session, call the library at 780-459-1682 or visit www.sapl.ca.
