I’ve never been organized enough to participate in this monthly blog event, hosted by Bookish Beck, but this time I’m getting my act together to give it a go!
As I’ve shared previously, our local library deserves a lot of love! In January, they had extensive flooding from some burst pipes after a heavy snow and have been closed ever since. They very quickly were able to open for picking up holds and their website has remained active for placing requests.
A couple of months ago they opened a pop-up library space in the local mall (which is just across a parking lot from their regular location). Here they have space to sit and read as well as all of their new books on display. It’s obviously much smaller but it has helped fill that need of a free public space that public libraries so beautifully fill.
I tend to always be looking for particular books at the library so the current hold system still works pretty well for me. I do miss the opportunity to browse or sit and read though and my kids are really missing that. With two readers now, not being able to search through the shelves and pick out their own stacks of books is a disappointment. (Rose cried when she first heard about the flood.) In the meantime, I’m thankful that we can visit the pop-up and that they still have their school library. Re-opening will hopefully happen in July and we look forward to it.
In the meantime, I’ve still been using the library as much as I can. Every year I try and read as many books as I can in preparation for our local Writers Festival in August. I’m not attempting to read them all this year but to focus on the ones that interest me. So far I’ve read Naomi Klein’s latest, a memoir by residential school survivor Sam George, Kyo Maclear’s new memoir, and I’m currently reading about Canada’s housing crisis. I’ve also dipped into Brent Butt’s new novel and have Wade Davis’ latest essay collection in the wings. The library always carries all the authors for this event and it’s a great way to get a taste of who is coming, even if I return them unfinished like I did with Huge.
Some other recent library books for me were I Cheerfully Refuse and Held by Anne Michaels. And, of course, I make great use of the Libby app, using it for all my audio books. I have yet to pay for an audio book and don’t really plan to.
Rose picked up the Our Friend Hedgehog series which were two very sweet stories about a group of animals and perfect for a fresh new reader. Pearl has been continuing to read The Land of Stories and started on a new series by Beth Lincoln, The Swifts. She’s now eagerly awaiting the second volume out in August.
Karissa Reads Books 
I don’t use my library now, but it was an essential part of childhood so I sympathise with the girls missing it! Browsing is a great way to develop our tastes and try things we might not come across otherwise, and while I do a lot of online browsing, it isn’t the same!
Yes! Browsing those stacks and choosing my own books was such a part of learning my own book tastes and discovering things I otherwise wouldn’t have.
Your poor library! Having a flood is a nightmare with books all around. I hope they didn’t lose too much stock to water damage. The popup space is a creative option to keep the service running, but I’m sure everyone will be happy to have browsing back!
I’ve heard that the damage to the books was fortunately not too extensive. It’s the floors and walls that have needed major repairs and dealing with insurance has slowed everything down. I’m really impressed with how the staff has adapted but it will be nice to have the whole library to browse again!
I keep seeing things about Canada’s housing crisis online, and I’m wondering how/if it’s different from the U.S. housing crisis.
I’m sad that your little girl cried about the library, but it also warmed my heart that she’s such a nice human. It sounds like you’re library staff are flexible and resilient if they got a pop-up location in a mall. Typically, malls charge expensive rent.
According to this book, Canada’s population is growing faster than the US, mostly due to immigration. And it seems like cost of living is higher in Canada than the US though that may not be true across the board. But the main problem is probably the same which is simply not enough affordable housing, especially in cities. Peter and I often note that we probably couldn’t afford to rent our own house based on what local rental prices are.
I don’t know but hope that the mall cut them some sort of deal on rent. Our mall typically has an empty retail space or two so having something like the library that would bring people in is good for them too.
I’m hoping the mall charged the library zero money dollars and wrote it off on their taxes.
I hadn’t considered how Canada is growing due to immigration. When Trump was elected and so many people “threatened” to move to Canada, I never thought it would really happen. Then again, I think you guys also take in more refugees without all the heel-digging.
I’m surprised we got our house without having to do a bidding war, which is common in the U.S. People say they want to buy a house, but so do loads of other people, oftentimes including corporations that want to buy the house to rent, so they waive the inspection and pay in cash, and that’s how they are taking over. Some people are fighting back by refusing to sell to anyone doing the waive/cash deal. I think we got our house because it includes 7.5 acres of farm land and was tangled up with the house next door because it was two houses on one property.
That would be lovely! I haven’t heard that but as I said, the spot would be empty otherwise.
We’re a country that largely prides itself on being a place that takes in immigrants and refugees. In recent years we’ve had large numbers particularly from Syria, Ukraine, and Afghanistan. I don’t know how many Americans actually moved from the US after Trump. Most Americans I can think of who have moved her have done so because of relationships!
The idea of a bidding war over a house stresses me out! I’m glad you were able to avoid it. We bought our house right before prices really jumped up here. We just got lucky.
We should be taking in refugees from Mexico, Central, and South America, but in the background people are still chanting “build the wall,” so we are falling behind on civic duty in the U.S.
When I was growing up my dad worked with refugees so I know it is still a very complex way to enter Canada. But we’ve also made an effort to make it simpler for people from countries like Syria or Ukraine during very tumultuous periods. Unfortunately, we simply don’t have the affordable housing needed to match our immigration rate and that’s part of what the book discusses. There are some major arguments going on even at this moment about how we should approach this in Canada. My perception (I don’t know if this is accurate though) is that in Canada more do than in the US we are more likely to embrace our immigrant status. Aside from our Indigenous peoples, we mostly accept that none of us are actually from Canada. Some still want to pull up that ladder behind them but many acknowledge that immigration built this country and is who we are.
I believe in the U.S. there were churches and other groups that wanted to sponsor immigrant families, but it wasn’t happening due to legal issues about not welcoming people in. It’s like, if they have a place to go and a support system, what’s the hold up?
That’s frustrating. A lot of churches (and non-religious groups too) I know have sponsored refugee families. To me it seems like a great system where immigrant families have an immediate support group and the government has less they need to take responsibility of.
I’m glad your library has been able to reopen in pop-up form – I hope they have four walls again soon! I use the library much more now than I did when I was a child – my mum did her best, but I was an absolutely inveterate loser of library books, so in the end we stopped using it. I hope your girls are less scatty than I was! Now that I’m a bit better organised, I love my local library and use it often.
I have so many memories of time spent in libraries from childhood until now. I’ve been very impressed in how our local library has adapted through covid and now this to still serve the community.
So far the girls have been pretty good about library books. They’re young enough that I still largely take responsibility of keeping track of their books but they do have their own library cards. We’ve only had to replace one book – it came with a CD that got stepped on and cracked.