Notes from the public meeting held January 3^rd, 2008 at 7:30pm in the Lunenburg Library

*Please note some comments which came from people unable to attend the meeting are incorporated. This seemed the most appropriate place for them.

General introduction (Cheryl)

The idea of this evening's session is to be as open as possible since we're trying to gather a wide variety of ideas. This kind of consultation is a new way of doing things for the South Shore Regional Library, so we've tried to structure the evening with plenty of opportunity to hear your ideas. We'll be doing a roundtable on our topic at hand; a group exercise using some library-related quotes; then open brainstorming. Finally, we'll ask you for some input on a few of the more practical issues. Please sign in with your email address, so we can send you our notes from this meeting and also keep you up to date on anything else related to this project. We should note that we are initally focusing on Lunenburg County as a target area for the project.

Project introduction (Marion)

Our initial thoughts about this project were that we wanted to increase our role as a public forum in the community. Starting this project now is also timely since as an organization, we're also in the process of reviewing our mission statement and core values, and we thought one of the best ways to gather input would be to ask a small group of people what they think about this one particular area of focus.

Q: What do you think of as 'community' and what is the one best way you see the library fitting into that?
A:
Community

• a network of interpersonal relationships
• is geographically defined
• a group of people with a common interest, common responsibilities
• no one is excluded

Library

• provides a way to access the culture, meet people, a focus point
• could become a vehicle to enhance and represent the local culture, where people feel validated
• a great nexus point
• a space where citizens prevail
• strengthen role in community by promoting interlibrary loans, creating awareness of our services
• way of connecting people with similar interests
• often valued more by outsiders than by local people
• underutilized by most communities
• a safe, public space
• preserving democratic freedom (more than one point of view offered)

Group brainstorming (Marion)

Q: Given our context, what do you think is the best way for the library to demonstrate its core values in this new focus of a community forum?
A:

• teachers underutilized - visit schools, use school newsletters
• don’t have ‘gate-keeper’ librarians, be welcoming, be like Chapters (coffee & food)
• start with babies, follow-up (Read To Me programme)
• provide research help to interest groups, reading lists ,virtual and physical displays
• link our website to local museums & other non-profit groups
• provide classics on-line for downloading
• conduct a workshop on evaluating websites, how to use tools- computer literacy etc.
• have a panel discussion/series on, local history, state of the environment, music appreciation, comparative religion
• food: local food connections/food supply/food security, food systems and how they affect all of us, alternatives, local connections, how to make South Shore (Nova Scotia) more self-sustaining
• when we have a presentation, continue with discussion (people don’t want to simply hear a talk then go home)
• VON weekly bus route could include library
• library could be a bus stop in the new public transit system
• connect with groups and their audience (work with rather than competing)
• book clubs/reading clubs- new structures?
• space/support for writers groups
• meet local artists night, meet your local politician night, etc.
• match up reluctant readers with audio books
• provide a forum to connect with local fire department and other community structures: their history, their stories, telling our stories
• display winning local student projects
• promote awareness of how information is suppressed
• local history info centre
• networking focus for environment concerns
• make the library a place for people to connect
• bring down barriers that discourage people from using the library by recognizing that local experience and local knowledge are just as valid as knowledge that comes from formal education
• socio-environmentalism as it relates to community development
• municipal engagement—how to be active participants in local governance issues

Practical Considerations (Cheryl)

Q: What works best for you in terms of advertising and format?
A:

• use website, emails, flyers, radio, newspapers
• email and newspaper best combo
• would like something placed in my hand every time I come into the library; that’s how to remember
• web site should have an RSS feed
• patrons who wish could sign on to a listserv