More than books

By Leslie-Ann Kroeker


MOSSBANK - If you drive down Mossbank, Sask.’s main street too quickly, you just might miss the humble brick building that is home to the town library.

The outside is modest. An aging pale blue sign reads “Mossbank Library” over a faded painting of a book wearing a smiley face. But beyond the doors a surprisingly large crowd of books sits in rows of well-stocked shelves. The children’s section is adorned with festive books. A poster on the wall shows a cartoon character reading with the caption: “A good book is a good friend.” You might ask yourself, how can a place like this survive in a town of less than 500 people.

 

The library opened in 1973 as a branch of the Palliser Region of the Saskatchewan Public Libraries. Palliser currently has 20 branches scattered throughout the Moose Jaw region.  
   
The Mossbank library serves the RM of Lake Johnston and Lake Sutton. In total, the library serves 785 patrons.

In the early days, the library was only one room in a residential house.

“One little wee room for the office and my files. That’s how we started,” said Vera Willits, the town’s first librarian. “(Eventually) we ended up with the main floor of the house.”

The library’s success eventually moved it to a new location on Main Street, where it remains today.

No matter how successful the Mossbank library was in its early days, it could not escape the negative affects of population decline in the late ‘90s. The provincial funding for the library is based per capita: The more people, the more funding. When people were leaving town in the late ‘90s, this meant less grant money the library received from the government. Between 2001 and 2006, the population fell from 379 to 330. Despite a recent rebound, people have been turning to e-readers and the Internet for entertainment, leaving libraries in the past. 

Yet, despite all the issues that plague the system, somehow the Mossbank library continues to persevere. According to the Palliser website, 504,468 new items circulated in 2009. They have also seen 2,251 new patrons. And although provincial funding has been cut, municipal funding has risen 44 per cent over the past 15 years to keep the Palliser region alive.

Jenna Hysuik is Mossbank’s librarian, a young woman who moved to the town to live with her fiancé. In the past year that she’s been the librarian, she has seen a steady number of visitors pass through the doors. She doesn’t think the library is struggling to remain open.

“More people are coming in and we are getting more circulation of our books,” said Hysuik. “It just strengthens our need for the library.”

The library holds programs for all age groups – from the summer reading program for kids on holidays to large print books for the town seniors. The library houses two computers with public access to the Internet, the only building in town to do so. In 2010, the Palliser Region adopted the Saskatchewan Information and Library Services Consortium, an online circulation tool that connects all library branches across Saskatchewan.

It is mostly fundraising that allows Hysuik to purchase new books for the shelves.

This is where the library board comes in, a group of nine town members who are seriously committed to seeing the library thrive. Terry Clements and Antoinette Noble are two of those board members. When I sat down to talk to them about the library, they rapidly talked over one another in excitement. When Nobel gave me one fact, Clements was quick to chime in with more information. Clements grew up in Mossbank and has seen the town struggle in the past. She knows first hand why involvement in a small community is vital for its survival.

“If nobody did anything the whole place would just roll over and die. In any small town, you have to keep ahead,” she said.

The board holds annual events to raise money for the library. The members do everything from social teas to cake decorating. Last year the volunteers raised $2,000 for new library material.

“We try to keep things active to stay current, to keep ourselves out there so people know we’re here,” says Clements.

“There are always people (fundraising) that may not necessarily use the library, but want to help it and have it there for (their) grandkids,” said Krystal Stark, a Grade 6 teacher at Mossbank’s school.

Stark’s classroom is lined with rows of books. She frequents the library often to take out books for herself and her students.

“I always tell the kids, even if you’re going to be a farmer, if you can’t read the chemical mixtures, you’re going to have a major problem on your field,” said Stark.  “(Reading) is so important, it’s in everything."

At Christmas, the town shuts down for one night and has sleigh rides down Main Street. The library is one of the only spaces large enough to have everyone from the town gather in one room. A silent auction is set up and people competitively try to out bid each other for prizes. The kids warm up with hot chocolate while the men discuss the up-coming crop season.  It is moments like this that show why keeping the library open is important because it’s more then just a room to house books.

“I hope that when I’m old and retired it will still be here,” said Stark.





Photo: Leslie-Ann Kroeker