The Lloydminster Public Library is celebrating Library Week and the theme of this years week is Libraries Matter.
“As we all remember in the spring, the Saskatchewan government had decided to cut library funding and not just the library community but the people of Saskatchewan rallied and made them rethink their decision to cut funding because libraries do matter,” says Michele Duczek, the Reference Librarian.
Duczek goes on to say the support in the forms of social media campaigns, letters to the government and read-ins throughout the community was great to see. She says the importance of libraries is different for everyone.
“We do promote life long literacy and life long learning but also we are a safe neutral place for people to meet. We provide meeting space, we provide internet access. Yes we provide books, but [we have] other resources. We have non-book resources like dvds. We have a lot of materials but we also have a lot of services.”
Duczek adds, “the library of your childhood is not the library of today. There is so much more going on. If you haven’t been in a while, come see because you’re thinking ‘well I don’t use it, I don’t do this, I don’t do that,’ you might find we can provide you with some resources.”
She goes on to say she finds a lot of government agencies also direct people towards the library when people need to apply on line for programs, as they can provide basic instructions.
Library Week is going on until Saturday.