Niverville council says yes to the soon-to-be-opened library policy

The Town of Niverville is one step closer to opening its new community library space, following council's approval of a new donation policy at their recent meeting.

CAO Eric King explained what the library donation policy is meant to do.

“It provides clarification regarding the donation of books and other materials to the ‘Take One Leave One Library,’” he said. “Preferred donations include things like bestsellers, books in good condition, local history, and material covering certain subject areas. Not suitable would be encyclopedias, university and college textbooks, Reader’s Digest condensed books, magazines, or things like DVDs and CDs. We’re trying to manage what comes in so we don’t end up with a pile of stuff nobody can use.”

Deputy Mayor Chris Wiebe raised a concern about how “questionable content” might be handled when it came to which books would be allowed in the library.

“Who is going to determine questionable content? What is the procedure going to be?” he asked.

King admitted that the issue isn’t addressed in the policy yet and suggested that it might be best to address this process first.

“This is a start. We’re not there yet. We haven’t come to that part of the sorting yet,” he said, referring to the procedure of determining library books' content..

Mayor Dyck suggested council revisit that question later.

“Policies can always be vetted, even after the fact. My suggestion is we put that on our Ways and Means calendar, and when Warren Britton does an update for Council, this can be on his list,” he said.

The motion passed unanimously.

Niverville's Centennial Arena south-end and Warren Britton, Niverville's Director of Recreation and Wellness.

Library Space Nearing Completion

Niverville's Director of Recreation and Wellness, Warren Britton, says work is almost done on the new library, which will be housed in the south end of the Centennial Arena.

“We’re just finalizing things in the space. We needed to put in a wider door and a few other things for accessibility, and we’re hoping to have a fall opening,” Britton said. “We already do have some volunteers lined up, and it should be a really nice place.”

The space, which has also been used for the town’s golf simulators, has been completely renovated into a multi-use area. One room will be lined with bookshelves, while the main area will provide seating and study space.

“Even if people aren’t looking for a book, it will be a quiet place to study, do some homework, or just relax,” Britton explained.

Volunteers and Book Donations Needed

Britton said, of course, the town will be looking for more volunteers to help keep the library open regularly.

“The hours of the library will be dictated by volunteer availability,” he said. “Obviously, you can never have enough volunteers, so if anybody’s interested, they can email recreation@whereyoubelong.ca.”

As for books, donation days will be announced closer to the opening.

“We do want to take in as much as possible, but obviously just having bookshelves full of textbooks from 1982 probably isn’t going to be very popular,” Britton laughed. “So that’s why the donation policy is important.”

While the library doesn’t have a finalized name yet, town officials are hoping to host a grand opening later this fall.