New Libraries in Saint-Hippolyte and in Nouvelle

Two recent news:

• Saint-Hippolyte (population 7,219 in 2006 according to Statistics Canada) receives a grant of $600,200 for the construction of a library.
• Nouvelle (population 1815 in 2006 according to Statistics Canada) has inaugurated the premises of its new library March 12.

The recent Nouvelle library has 224 square meters of space. The Brownsburg-Chatham one, 138 square meters (for a population of 6,664 in 2006).

 Excerpt from the press release announcing the opening in Nouvelle:

The grant comes from the Québec government comes from the Plan québécois des infrastructures, announced in November 2007. Let us recall that the cultural component of this plan will enable the investment of 1.2 billion dollars through to 2013. Thanks to the participation of partners, it is expected to generate total investments valued at over $ 2 billion. These funds will enable the government to accommodate a larger number of projects under its current programs and to contribute more particularly, as the investment announced today, to city and regions throughout Québec.

Meanwhile, in Brownsburg-Chatham, we look at the parade.

Architectural Heritage in Saint-Jérôme

From the Web site of the City of Saint-Jérôme (in French), the presentation of a heritage guide detailing architectural influences at different times. Document to consult for anyone interested in heritage:

Discover the guide "Saint-Jérôme and Its Architecture" (in French)

Saint-Jérôme holds a wealth of architecture

St. Jerome is a city that has grown and evolved since it was founded nearly 200 years ago. The architectural landscape of the city has changed, obliterating the same time, several witnesses from the past, but we still find today many architectural treasures.

In the brochure "Saint-Jérôme and architecture guide-discovery and enhancement of built heritage" (in French), Saint-Jérôme discover and learn how to recognize the heritage buildings.

A tool for owners

This guide will be especially useful to support owners in their efforts to renovate and enhance heritage buildings while respecting the architectural qualities. Funding could even be available.

The document follows the study and inventory of built heritage of Saint-Jérôme which were made some years ago by the City and which have identified the buildings deserve special attention.

The guide was published with the contribution of the Ministry of Culture, Communications and Status of Women.

School Library and Public Library

Some may believe, rightly or wrongly, that our elected officials confuse school library and public library. Both are essential. They are certainly complementary. Here is what said the Ministry of Culture and Communications (originally in French):

The school library has an educational role that distinguishes it from the public library. Thus, the type of services offered by the school library is directly related to the implementation of curriculum, hence the importance of having in each school a place accessible to teachers and students where to find collections consisting of basic reference books. The school library does not yet meet all the needs of staff and students, and if we want the student to continue reading and using libraries after graduation, it is at school that these habits must be developed. Students should therefore be encouraged to read not only by obligation, but out of curiosity and pleasure. To do this, the school library should make available a varied collection including works of fiction and documentary. Cooperation between municipality and the school is a solution to enrich the choices offered by the school library. We must also develop an early habit of frequenting the public library.

Le temps de lire, un art de vivre – Politique de la lecture et du livre

(Tiré à part: "Les bibliothèques publiques")

Ministère de la culture et des communications, 1998

Experience suggests that, in general, a public library located in a school has less members from general public. Is this due to how the premises are organized and where the entrance is situated? Is it because the public perceives the institution to be addressing students more than them? Is it a matter of opening hours?

Certainly, a library such as that of Bromont * allows one to dream with its green architecture and its open spaces. It calls to drop any reluctance to the coexistence of the school entity and the public, at least for those sensitive to the green arguments.

* 6049 population in 2006 according to Statistics Canada

Let us recall here that the coalition We Deserve Better is open to any reasonable proposal for relocating the municipal library. There would then be a need to find a vocation to the Roussell house.

Municipal Council's Reaction - City Has No Money, Really?

As indicated on our blog January 14, 2010, the Coalition We deserve better presented to City Council on January 5 its official demands. We asked for a response by early February 2010.


On February 9, 2010, during a telephone conversation between Cynthia Dubé, a member of the coalition, and Mrs. Paul Blain Clotteau, Advisor to the City of Brownsburg-Chatham, the latter reported not having received such formal requests. Cynthia Dubé then transmitted them directly by email that same day. On 22 February, Mrs. Clotteau sent an unsigned email, reproduced here in full (originally in French):

Hello, we have received your message. The library is in our future projects, but the current state of the city's finances is, and you will surely understand it, that we are handling the most urgent matters, the state of infrastructure in our municipality is currently in our priorities.

The Mayor, Mr. Georges Dinel had also made statements to the local press that the city's finances were disastrous.

The 2009 financial profile of Brownsburg-Chatham available on the website of the Ministry of Affaires municipales, Régions et Occupation du territoire nonetheless suggests that it compares very well with other cities.

The total long-term net debt per $100 of RFU (richesse foncière uniformisée in French) and the long-term debt per capita are hardly superior to other municipalities of the MRC d'Argenteuil, but equivalent to those of the administrative region Laurentides and all of Québec.

The standardized overall rate of taxation (TGT in French) is below the average of municipalities of the same class (2000 to 9999 population), as well as of those of the MRC d'Argenteuil, the Laurentides administrative region and throughout Québec .

As hard as we search for the catastrophe, we do not see it in these numbers.

The provincial government also provides grants for infrastructure projects (sewers, water pipes, etc.)

The Magic of the Library

A Fun video Presentation of The University of Bergen.


This link was discovered on the bibliothécaire errant's blog, who suggests another blog to read in his message of February 22nd, 2010... Thank you, bibliothécaire errant!

Quotes

Quand on pense au patrimoine légué par les générations qui nous ont précédé, on constate que le livre en est le véhicule le plus important. Il est à ce point marquant qu'on a identifié les périodes du temps qui ont précédé et succédé à l'avènement de l'écriture comme étant la préhistoire et l'histoire.

Jean-Paul Baillargeon,
Plaidoyer pour une bibliothèque publique culturelle – Dix défis à relever

Library of Alexandria

(Image taken from a video game: Cleopatra - A Queen's Destiny)

Presumed site of the famous library:

Knowledge is free at the library. Just bring your own container.

Unknown

The State of Public Libraries in Québec in 2004

Excerpt taken from Réjean Savard's conclusions in État des lieux du livre et des bibliothèques - Chapitre 13: "Les bibliothèques publiques de 1995 à 2001", Observatoire de la lecture et des communications du Québec, 2004.


Although the text dates back to 2004, it is entirely appropriate to our current situation.

Given that Québec is proud to be the province most open to culture, we must admit that the figures for the libraries are somewhat troubling. Even if the statistics of recent years indicate improved inputs, the comparison with Ontario and British Columbia shows that this progress is entirely relative.

Quàbec does not yet seem to have understood the importance of a good network of public libraries in the knowledge society. The cost of libraries is often perceived as an expense when it is in fact an investment. Compared to other utilities, Québec still invests much less in public libraries.

It is obvious that Quàbec could not catch up the backlog in terms of the reading public: we know that for a long time, developing tis growing sector has been the subject of a filibuster from the clergy first, then from conservative politicians (the "Duplessis"), that reading was reserved for the elite and was not essential to social development. One wonders sometimes if there does not remain a relic of the anti-intellectualism in Québec.

Our governments nevertheless praise the information society in which we enter, and for which we must "be prepared". How can we think that Quebecers are ready to compete with other societies in the knowledge world if their skills in writing and reading are so poor? We know that in some districts of Montréal, the illiteracy rate reached almost 25% of the population.

The public library network can be a key strategy to allow a society to make the most in the information society. The recent World Summit on the Information Society has well demonstrated it. Some countries like Finland, whose size and population can be compared to those in Québec, public libraries are the cornerstone of their strategy to access the information society. Unesco has been supporting for several years a manifesto on the public library, making it the main key access to knowledge. This manifesto is published in 24 languages and supported by the governments of several countries. In other countries, municipalities are mobilizing to develop reading their citizens and create, as in France, an association of "Villes-Lecture".

The virtual and new technologies alone will not allow a society to respond adequately to the challenges of the Information Society. The premise is to encourage the public to read more and learn better, what public libraries well equipped and well organized can do well.

Developing and Revitalizing Rural Communities through Arts and Culture

This is serious.  Arts Research Monitor has reported of a series of reports on Developing and Revitalizing Rural Communities through Arts and Creativity commissioned by The Creative City Netword of Canada.

The summary overview of these reports sets the context: “As rural communities re-envision and reposition themselves, they are seeking to revitalize, diversity their economic base, enhance their quality of life, and reinvent themselves for new functions and roles.” Important challenges in rural communities include declining or aging populations, youth retention, as well as limited social and economic opportunities.

In this context, the report argues that “arts, culture and heritage are viewed not only as amenities to improve the quality of life, but as a foundation upon which the future of these rural/small communities rests. The arts and creative activities can profoundly affect the ability of a town not only to survive over time, but to thrive.” Rural festivals, events and facilities can help create and maintain rural identities, foster a collective sense of belonging, as well as enable community-building and community cohesion. However, the report also recognizes that “the extent of cultural/creative work occurring in rural communities tends to be undercounted, under-recognized, and often undervalued”.

The report notes that artists and other creative workers can be drawn to rural areas by the quality of life, an appealing landscape, lower rents, strong artistic concentrations, access to urban markets, opportunities for part-time employment, a local organizational catalyst, or the overall size of the community or region.

According to the report, critical ingredients in rural artistic vitality include:

-“An underlying appreciation and attitude of acceptance toward local culture, history, people and assets, and a community’s ‘sense of place’;

-A valuing of the arts in everyday life, and an inclusive encouragement of broad-based participation;

-Key leadership roles representing the broad community, and a community-based coalition willing to work towards a common goal;

-Social networks of key volunteers and arts supporters”; and

-Cultural infrastructure development.

Testimonies 2 - Books, Reading, From Generation to Generation

My grandparents, Albert Tremblay and Margaret Roy, had 15 children, whom they raised in Saint-Clément, a village located near Rivière-du-Loup, Bas-Saint-Laurent. He was a blacksmith, she, a dressmaker. They have also been farmers for 17 years and traders for seven years (general store).

 

My grandmother had a 6th grade, but she loved to read. This leisure ativity was of such importance she would not have missed for all the gold in the world the Sunday pilgrimage to church, where was located the library (magnificent church, by the way). At that time the village had 1200 residents. My grandmother and her children were standing in line to choose unpretentious readings . Because my grandmother loved to read, she could write with very little spelling mistakes. And it is through writing that she offered a gift of family history, by giving each child a book recounting the birth of all of them. Because love is told with words, and so history.

 

In 1980, my aunt Yolande Tremblay moved the library out of the church of to the Recreation Center. This will be the first library affiliated to the central library loans Ports. It is with pride that I learned recently that the Bas-Saint-Laurent region has the highest rate of library use (text to come on the blog). The population of Saint-Clément is today around 530. The library service is still available, now in the community center. This little town has lost the post office despite the fierce resistance of the people who occupied the premises for 59 days. Never mind, it created the first Center for Community Internet Access in eastern Quebec in the disused Canada Post premises. Moreover, despite its smallness, the community has a development officer. It is never too small to think big.

 

I always saw my mother with a book in her hands before going to sleep at night and she often slept on his book. It was natural for her to offer me books as gifts. They were beautiful surprisesand I appreciated them . And I as well read in front of my children. The books go from the night table to the kitchen, from the office to the living room and, yes, to the bathroom ... In my children's bedrooms, there are shelves for books that they can reach. And we visit the municipal library. For the pleasure of discovery, for the pleasure of getting suggestions relating to concerns of the day (fear of bugs taste for mixing colors, interest in the sounds we hear ...) My elder, which is three years old, takes pleasure in reading the same volumes throughout the duration of the loan, so much so that he can fill himself sentences, sometimes even repeating them word for word.

 

That is how I want to educate my children: by giving them the words that will allow them to interact with others, create, think objectively and independently, to express their opinions and their rights and thus to participate fully in society.

 

Cynthia Dubé
Brownsburg-Chatham resident

The council is studying various scenarios for a new library in a horizon of 1 or 2 years. Let us speak up and express our need and desire for a library as we deserve. Let us speak up and express our need and desire for a library as we deserve. Why do we believe our library to be important? What does she bring us? Or why are we not going? What would lead us to attend? What kind of library do we dream of? What inspiring and great libraries have we visited?

 

All your comments are important, be them short or elaborate, whether you are young or not so young. Thank you to indicate your name and city (and your organisation if applicable). The Coalition reserves the right to remove any comment demonstratring a lack of respect, with personal attacks and without signature or name of city. Go to the end of this message to write your own testimony. Click on "comment" to open the window if necessary.

 

You can also send your comment by email (citbrownsburg-chatham@live.ca).

To read other testimonies:

• http://citbrownsburg-chathameng.blogspot.com/2009/12/library-testimonies.html
• http://citbrownsburg-chathameng.blogspot.com/2010/04/testimonies-3.html

Philippe Girard, saved by a book

Philippe Girard, a talented Quebecker cartoonist , has received several awards for his books. He is the author of Killing Velasquez, an autobiographical album that addresses the subject of pedophilia. Killing Velasquez has enabled him to free himself of an episode of his life long kept secret, but hopefully, he hopes, to also help victims of this crime.

http://pilule.telequebec.tv/occurrence.aspx?id=693
(text and television extract both in French)


Did he need to write to save himself? No, he had to read Bob Morane...

Valuing Heritage - Cacouna's example

When beauty is inviting.

http://cacouna.net/circuitPatrimonial_e.htm

Quotes

C’est un grand crime que de ne pas mettre une bibliothèque ordonnée à la portée de l’enfant qui aime lire. En cela plus qu’en n’importe quelle autre chose, le temps perdu ne se retrouve pas.


Claire Martin, La Joue droite

Libraries in Ghana (text in French)

Four out of 10 adult Canadians, age 16 to 65 - representing 9 million Canadians - struggle with low literacy.

ABC Canada