CONNECTING WITH COMMUNITY PLANNING

Well, this was quite an adventure. First, I had to track something down and discovered that a study was made in 2009: “Rapport final - Analyse des besoins culturels - Cité de Clarence-Rockland” by PGF Consultants Inc. of Ottawa.  . It identifies three recommendations: hire a cultural coordinator, form a consulting committee, develop a strategic plan.

The Library is mentioned as an element in the new sports-cultural complex, not as a community cultural entity.  The study was done after the complex was built. The Library barely registers and this is also reflected in the realisation of the physical space allotted to the main branch at Rockland: tiny meeting room, no clear assembly space, even seating is constrained (limited, fairly inflexible with few spaces to be alone) and broken up. When focusing on “cultural” elements, many community reps focused on the new performing space. No mention is made of the Library as a viable space for community events or activities.

At my recent budgetary defence, I spoke about the problem of the current perception of the Library.  I emphasized that the Library has not served the community well if all they perceive us is as depository for books.  I stated quite boldly that it was our (the Library’s) duty to change this perception.   

And three ways I feel to move towards achieving this are:

• Educate the citizens by doing: creating programming for all ages, offering venues for arts programs (ex.: recently commissioned a work from the local Anglophone high school).
• Meet with the Cultural Director to find out what plans are currently in place, what goals is the City moving towards
• Contact various organizations and see how the Library can participate in promoting their work or assist them in developing their work

This won’t be easy to achieve.  We are grossly understaffed and underfunded by Ontario standards but it is doable.  We have found funding for some programs, have gained valuable community support, managed to get some key elements that are not “Library” related in the majority of the community’s minds, such as the family museum passes to all the major Ottawa sites.

It seems that as we move forward, things move towards us and help us move up one more notch in the community’s perception.