I would like to say a big thank you to the members of St. Albert City Council for their forward looking approach in giving the go ahead for an additional library branch.
When I arrived in St. Albert 40 years ago (population 24,129) it was hard to find the library because it was in a number of locations before it finally moved into the lovely City Hall building in 1977. The City has grown since then and we have lots of new young people to serve.
I respect the fact that we are all able to give our opinions on topics, but I think people like Doris Wrench Eisler (Gazette, Dec. 3) should be careful to get facts verified before voicing an opinion.
Our current library cannot store old books, nor would these books be moved to a new library. Books are kept according to the number of people who read them or for their literary importance. A book that has had no recent readers could still be acquired from other libraries or TAL (The Alberta Library). Why would we store unread books at a new library? Of course, if by “old” you mean Austen, Shakespeare, Wilde, or classics – we might move an extra copy to a new library.
I can see that you are not a local library supporter or you would see that our library is friendly. It is not noisy. Upstairs in the adult section there are people reading newspapers with a coffee in their hand, reading magazines, working on computers. Some people are learning how to find a job at our Job Centre, teenagers work quietly in a Wi-Fi area while book browsers wander the aisles.
There are all sorts of wonderful programs for children. Teenagers really like this library. It is a safe place to be and parents don’t have to worry about them. Think education. One million items were dispensed from this library in 2014. This year the library received its third Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Library Service!
I am not an important person at this library. I am a supporter, user and volunteer, but I am tired of accusations such as “empire building” and other negative statements about the library. I’m sure comments could be made on other subjects.
Kathie Konarzewski, St. Albert
