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October is Canadian Public Libraries Month, and local libraries are pulling out all the stops to showcase all public libraries have to offer – and what they’ve come to mean to the community well beyond the volumes on shelves.
Here at home, Ontario Public Libraries Week will take place in October 19 – 25 and, with this year’s theme being “Libraries for Life,” the Aurora Public Library (APL) is stepping forward with a series of programs and initiatives to show that the APL is here to support you every step of the way.
“We want to remind the community that we are here and we want them to all be here with us,” says APL’s Polly Ross-Tyrrell. “We want to remind the community of the things we represent – freedom of information, diverse programming, diverse interests – and we want to make sure everybody has their perfect book and everybody has their perfect program, and that we can help them find that.
“We want to celebrate what libraries mean to society, which is quite a lot. We are that classic ‘third place’ where you can go that isn’t your home, isn’t your school or work, but a place you can go and be. It’s another place where everybody can be themselves, find the things they are interested in, and just be calm.”
Canadian Public Libraries programming began earlier this week with a university and college fair on Monday afternoon, and activities will continue throughout the month.
Initiatives include a Diwali Dance Workshop this Sunday, October 12, from 2 – 3 p.m.; a drop-in Hallowe’en themed Drag King Story Hour at Aurora Town Square from 10.30 – 11.30 a.m., featuring Gustav; a Repair Café on Saturday, October 18, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; while an ongoing crafting initiative is the chance to build your own “Mini-Library in a Tin.”
“The day we’ve chosen to celebrate the Week – October 18 – is a day that was already packed with an absolutely fabulous breadth of programming,” says Ross-Tyrrell, noting the community programming work of APL’s Susan Collins. “We’ll have, of course, a story time, but we’ll also have our philosophy club, Calm Within, which is our mantra meditation program, the Repair Café, and we’ll also have a video game program in the afternoon for children.
“I think there are also people who assume that we are there only for one viewpoint, and we are not. We are there for everybody. And we want to celebrate the diverse and we want to celebrate you if you’re not feeling so diverse, too. That’s okay. We are still going to do our diverse things over here, but you are still welcome. We want everybody to feel welcome, and that means not turning anybody away and making sure that we have a broad reach in terms of the things we can offer.
“Please do everybody come and join us for cake at least on October 18, see what we do and how much we love to share it with you.”
For a full roster of upcoming Aurora Public Library events, visit aurorapl.ca.
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