The Kinsmen Club of Medicine Hat have been long-time supporters of the Children's Library, many of the art pieces hanging in the library were donated or funded by them, such as the castle painting. - NEWS PHOTO KENDALL KING
kking@medicinehatnews.com
Medicine Hat Public Library and the Kinsmen Children’s Library are getting a refresh with new paint, flooring, shelving, furniture and more, with hopes the space will become more accommodating for patrons.
“We are doing a bunch of building upgrades in 2021 and 2022,” Ken Feser, chief librarian, told the News. “It’s partially in response to COVID. We can’t offer some of the services and programming we’ve done in the past, so it’s an opportunity to get some background work done.
“In the adult area, we allocated $150,000 of reserve funds (for) paint and flooring upgrades, which is pretty much done. We’re also getting some new shelving and reallocating our spaces… We got a grant as well from the Community Foundation of Southeastern Alberta so we’re re-organizing some of our seating and computers in our lower level. We’re trying to set up environments where people can physically distance and we can accommodate different sizes of groups and allow people to spread out more.”
Library staff are also working to create a quick-pick area, the set up for which will be reminiscent of a bookstore, in which the newest or most popular items are on display.
Changes are a happening in the Kinsmen Children’s Library (located inside MHPL) as well, said Feser.
“We did get two major grants for our children’s area; one from Southlands Co-op to do our play space, which is a play area, then one from the Kinsmen, to do shelving, flooring, paint and other general stuff,” he said.
Carol-Ann Cross-Roen, head of youth services, said she is excited for the improvements and thanks donors for their support.
“I think what they value, in terms of community impact, we are certainly an organization that demonstrated that broad-reaching community impact,” Cross-Roen told the News.
Several improvements have already been made, such as new paint, carpeting and desks. Most recently, new bookshelves have been installed in the Children’s Library.
“All the pieces of shelving we had in (the Children’s Library) were hand-me-downs from other parts of the library over the years,” said Cross-Roen.
“It was in really rough shape… and then, our non-fiction shelving was a bit too tall for the youth services department. It also blocked the sight-line (for parents).
“The new shelving is a little bit wider so it will better accommodate some of the collections, and then we have some dedicated media shelving to hold those collections better as well.”
Library staff hope the improvements will be complete by year’s end, and thank the public for their patience during this process.
