To quote Mark Twain, "The rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated."  To put it in reference to the demise of books in today's digital world, "The death of books has been greatly exaggerated."

That's what Kelly Kirkpatrick-Lauzon, the Operations Manager at the Airdrie Public Library thinks.  When asked asked if books were becoming a thing of the past, she was quick to give a firm opinion.  

"Definitely not.  Absolutely not.  We're adapting to people's online needs, and we provide that as well, but people still love books.  For instance people come in with their kids and borrow picture books.   If you want to read to your kid a different book every day, that's really expensive.  People love the collections we have, but we're also adapting and providing online material for people as well."

The Airdrie Library is always staying on top changes and advancements.  Regular meetings and planning sessions are part of that, according to Kirkpatrick-Lauzon.  

"We always keep abreast of things, constantly reading and staying on top of technology changes and what people want in the community.  We put out surveys quite a bit, asking people what they're looking for.  We have meetings and we line that up with our plan of service which is really important for us. You can do everything just mediocre, or you can do a few things really well, and that's the point of a plan of service."

Stats show that what the library is doing is working as usage keeps growing.  "Average monthly circulation in February increased by ten percent, our gate count increased by ten per cent.  We're constantly increasing in members and annual visits.  That has a lot to do with the growing population of Airdrie and people's need for free services and materials and spaces.  In February alone we loaned out almost 39,000 items just from our library in Airdrie and saw 14,849 people."   

Despite the world's affection for digital, Kirkpatrick-Lauzon still sees a bright future for books and a future for libraries to serve as gathering places for communities.  "Books are not going anywhere.  We are diversifying and providing more resources for people, but I don't think books are going anywhere. We have a place in Airdrie and at public libraries across the world as a community gathering space, a hub."  

 

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