Servicing a large out-of-town population has resulted in Smithers having an unusually high number of amenities for such a small community. Events or performances are held nearly every day of the week, lessons and clubs abound, and various groups organise free community gatherings throughout the year, from National Aboriginal Day celebrations and the Fall Fair Parade, to the Main Street Festival and Christmas in the Valley complete with Santa, hot chocolate and horse-drawn wagon rides. Tourists come from around the region to ski Hudson Bay Mountain, and from farther afield to fly-fish for steelhead in the Bulkley River. It is not unusual to see fox, deer, bear and moose in and around town (and even a moose in the supermarket on one memorable occasion).<\/p>\n What We Do<\/strong><\/p>\n Having grown up in Toronto, I am still surprised that patrons kick off their shoes and boots when entering the library. It is wonderful to see them so comfortable, treating it like the shared living room so many libraries aspire to become. In remote communities the public library is truly essential as a window to the wider world. Parents scour the stacks seeking to expand their children\u2019s horizons, teens pick up a novel to discover they\u2019re not alone, and seniors watch a 3-D printer demonstration, marvelling at the technology they\u2019ve heard about on television, or listen to a speaker recount tales of exotic travels. Much as in a larger centre, the library brings the world to our community — but unlike a city, there is perhaps a greater need for this conduit for diversity in thought, lifestyle, and culture.<\/p>\n Staff members have brought in their lambs and goats for special spring storytimes that delight children and caregivers alike. \u201cIn Our Backyard\u201d was a popular series of presentations on winterizing engines, keeping chickens, canoeing, cheesemaking, hiking and more. The idea behind the series was a focus on local bounty and sustainability combined with an interest in reducing our carbon footprint.<\/p>\n For a couple of years the library staffed a booth at the annual fall fair and rodeo. People stopped to browse books on barn design, poultry, raising beef cattle, and preserving the harvest. Using a cell phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot, we were able to answer reference questions about beekeeping and horse breeds.<\/p>\n Many people outside the town boundary do not have access to the Internet, or have dial-up service only. These patrons visit the library when in town to use the PACs or download eBooks and eAudiobooks. Last year over 21,000 PAC and Wi-Fi sessions were used onsite, decidedly quashing the myth that \u201ceverybody\u201d has Internet service. Rural families commuting for a long day of errands drop in to give the kids a break with stories, LEGO or iPads and to stock up on reading and viewing materials. One-week loans would be inconvenient and difficult for our more distant patrons, so DVDs are lent out for the same three-week period as books and magazines.<\/p>\n How We Do It<\/strong><\/p>\n Volunteers and Staff<\/em><\/p>\n The library\u2019s VolunTeens help the Children & Youth Programmer plan, prepare, and deliver special events for little ones, such as the Haunted Library that drew nearly 200 people this year, or science-themed non-instructional day programs where the youth demonstrate their experiments and assist with hands-on activities. While all of our volunteers help the library, our focus with a few is more about helping them by providing social scaffolding, and the library is a big part of their lives.<\/p>\n Our Friends of the Library group is small but hard-working and devoted. Each year they bring in an astounding amount of money through grant applications, soliciting local businesses, and book sales \u2013 over $28,000 in 2016. They use their community contacts to tirelessly advocate for the library, requesting donations and assistance with specific projects. Our Friends significantly extend the library\u2019s service capacity.<\/p>\n Most of our staff are long-time Smithereens and know the community inside-out. They bring their knowledge of community members\u2019 individual skills and talents to bear on everything from potential speakers and information sources to building repairs. The staff provide an endless source of great ideas, from circulating Tech Kits to livestreaming concerts, and their varied areas of interest keep the library\u2019s programs and collection balanced.<\/p>\n Organizational Relationships<\/em><\/p>\n In a small town we also have the opportunity to develop and maintain close relationships with our funders, such as local politicians, foundations, and service clubs, whom we meet at various community events or at library programs with their children. As we come to learn their areas of interest we are able to draw specific library news to their attention in passing, keeping them informed throughout the year. Councillors may sit on multiple boards throughout the community and can see our work first-hand through various partnership projects.<\/p>\n Libraries that are off the beaten track rely heavily on our federations for financial assistance with travel expenses to attend distant training opportunities and with author tours. As a Northwest Library Federation member, we have been able to host readings by such authors as Eden Robinson and Gwynne Dyer that would have been beyond our individual means. Beyond the efficiency of coordinating and subsidizing tours, belonging to a library federation has broadened our understanding of the region as a whole and developed a network of expertise and support between isolated libraries.<\/p>\n![\"National](\"https:\/\/bclaconnect.ca\/perspectives\/files\/2017\/11\/spl.jpg\")
<\/a>The Smithers Public Library, located in northern BC\u2019s Bulkley Valley, is on the unceded traditional territory of the Gitdumden Clan and the Witsuwit\u2019en Nation. The library serves the 5,400 residents of the town of Smithers plus several thousand more from the surrounding area. Smithers is a service hub for the village of Telkwa, Quick, rural farm and ranch families, and the reserve community of Witset. Over 10 per cent of Smithers\u2019 population identify as Indigenous or Metis. Many more are Dutch, German or Swiss, and the town has adopted an alpine theme for Main Street.<\/p>\n<\/a>Much of our programming mirrors that of other libraries, but some addresses our area\u2019s rural aspect. Each year we partner in a Campfire Cookout & Singalong at the municipal campground. Young families and seniors arrive with their lawn chairs to sing silly camp songs and old ballads, play tug-o-war, and roast hot dogs and marshmallows donated by a local grocer. The event was born of a conversation about song as an early literacy tool, and what better way to build community than sitting around a fire together sharing food and blending our voices?<\/p>\n<\/a>Our collection is also influenced by our community. Acting on the advice of a local school librarian, we brought in children\u2019s books about hunting and fishing to tempt middle-grade reluctant readers, with great success. Last year a young 4-H Club member donated half of the sale of his market pig to the library. We used the money to buy children\u2019s books about raising pigs and other livestock. Mining and forestry are major industries in our region, and binders containing environmental assessment reports take up much of our reference section.<\/p>\n<\/a>Small communities run on volunteer power, and Smithers is no exception. We are fortunate to have a Board with both newer members and several dedicated long-time trustees who served their maximum eight years, took the mandatory year off, then returned. Some volunteers \u2013 and staff \u2013 have been here for 40 years, and are as valuable a source of local history as any item to be found in the collection. We have had two generations in a family volunteering in the library together, and two generations working in staff positions at the same time as a sibling was helping out as a VolunTeen.<\/p>\n<\/a>Our library is in constant collaboration with other organizations, from the local GLAM sector and educational institutions to the homeless shelter and regional health network. A truth and reconciliation event we organized this summer involved 15 community partners, and it is not unusual to find us at a planning meeting with seven or eight other organizations. Partnering is easy to do in a small town where everyone regularly bumps into each other and can pop out to share an idea or meet for coffee just a few blocks away. I find that small organizations are often more nimble than larger ones \u2013 willing to squeeze things in on short notice, accept imperfection in order to move ahead, and take a chance on something new and unproven.<\/p>\n