Montréal Should Invest More in its Public Librarys - and a Serial Novel on the Web to Promotre Reading

Released this week in La Presse:


The Commission permanente sur le développement culturel et la qualité du milieu de vie, consisting mostly of elected members of the party of Montréal Mayor Gérald Tremblay, recommends that the City Executive invest more in its public libraries.

The Bibliothèques publiques de Montréal's Web site for its part offers a serial novel, Mille vies (in French):

Skibbereen, Montréal, Kingston, Vicksburg, Boston and Lowell are some cities that mark the 1000 lives of Molly Galloway . Nurtured by the upheavals of her era, she takes the train of ideas and battles for life and freedom. Her path leads her on the pavement of emerging cities, the railway tracks and trenches of the battlefield.

The story is narrated by a young immigrant traveling through America in the 19th century. During her adventures, Molly, just as her own hero, D'Artagnan and the Count of Monte Cristo, is to get involved in causes and disorders of her era.

The adventure is at the heart of this saga. It depicts major moments in the history of Montréal, Québec, America and the world around 1850.

Follow Up on Experts Meeting

The expert meeting as previously announced has therefore been held last Thursday. The ensuing discussion was rich with complementary perspectives and valuable information.

A clear message has been articulated in relation to recent cuts in the purchase of books. These cuts have really hurt and users feel it. The question was posed to the mayor Dinel whether it was possible to reverse this decision and he has not closed the door to such an eventuality.

It also emerged that the Ministry of Culture has a lot of grant applications for new libraries and the funds will be limited before 2013. If Brownsburg-Chatham wants to benefit from them, it must submit a strong proposal, and soon, especially advocating the need for people to make its candidacy a priority.

Mayor Dinel reiterated the lack of budgets. We hope the council find a way to adjust so as not to deprive the people of this essential service. The opening of the City to form the clibrary ommittee allows us to keep hope. We will continue to argue the benefits of library service.

The first meeting of this committee will be held in early October 2010. At that time, Réseau BIBLIO des Laurentides will present the first draft of the development plan. We will keep you informed of developments.

Meeting Experts and Library Committee

This Thursday, August 19 will be held a meeting with those we have called our experts. Seeing how little interest the public shows towards the project of moving the library into the Roussell house, the coalition has said: So then what would be the ideal library for the city of Brownsburg-Chatham? Seeing how time flies and wanting to benefit from the experience of credible people, the coalition has offered the City a meeting with experts in the field.

Mr. Mayor Dinel accepted. He will therefore be present as well as Madame Paule Clotteau Blain, designated representative for the library within the council. Unfortunately, we cannot benefit from the presence of other city council members. The General Manager and Treasurer René Lachance will also be present, as well as Nathalie Lafleur, a citizen of Brownsburg-Chatham who has long been concerned by this issue. Coalition members who will be present are François Jobin and Cynthia Dubé.

Experts consulted:

• Jean-Marc Parent, the Ministry of Culture and Communications;
• Catherine Lapointe, cultural development at the MRC of Argenteuil;
• JoAnne Turnbull, CEO Réseau BIBLIO des Laurentides, and
• Brigitte Bowen, employee responsible for the Library of Brownsburg-Chatham.

Subsequently, a library committee formed by the city will work in collaboration with the Réseau BIBLIO des Laurentides in order to elaborate a development plan. Will be a member of said committee: Nathalie Lafleur, citizen, and Cynthia Dubé, representative of the coalition We Deserve Better.

We sincerely hope that this will help the future of the library, for the good of the whole population on the territory. Let's recall that at our first meeting with the City Council December 16, 2009, it was said that a library project would be put forth in a horizon of 1 or 2 years.

Regarding the Roussell house, the coalition now considers the fate of the latter as a second problem. A vocation has still not been found. At the last City Council meeting held August 2, 2010, the building was put on sale. Will the heritage value of the building will be preserved? We are entitled to ask the question.

Quotations

Les choses ne se font jamais facilement dans le domaine culturel, ce n'est jamais considéré comme essentiel. On en revient à ce que disait Lapalme : les bouts de route et les ponceaux l'emportent toujours sur les affaires culturelles.

Lise Bissonnette

in L'Actualité, « Le flambeau aux jeunes », by Roch Côté, July 9th, 2010 (link is doomed to disappear some day)

Kansas City Public Library

In the long run, men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, though they should fail immediately, they had better aim at something high.

Henry David Thoreau

Grande Bibliothèque in L'Actualité

To read (in French) a series in L'Actualité about the Grande Bibliothèque of Montréal to mark its 5 years of existence. The archives of the magazaine is available on the Internet for a limited time. You will find among others a gide to 5 hidden treasures of the website of BAnQ.

Heritage Highlighted

Municipalities and regions in the province of Québec are more and more valuing and highlighting their heritage to attract tourists. Here are some examples:

Tourisme patrimonial du Bas-Saint-Laurent (in French)
Circuit du patrimoine religieux de l'île d'Orléans (the site has an English version but the brochure on religious heritage in pdf format can be seen on the French version)
La Sarre City (population 7336 in 2006 according to Statistics Canada)

New Libraries

We made ourselves quieter lately. During that time, new projects were announced in Québec. Among others: new libraries in Saint-Isidore (population 2503 in 2006, according to Statistics Canada) and La Minerve (population 1295 in 2006, according to Statistics Canada) to meet the growing needs of their populations.