On Saturday, Feb. 5, the Stettler Public Library was visited by royalty. It was the first ever Little Girls’ Night and the library was full of princesses who came to build their own castles, have their faces painted and to listen to stories. 105 princesses, staff and volunteers filled the library with laughter and enthusiasm and the library would like to everyone for making it a memorable evening.
Words have a great deal of power in our society and during our Freedom to Read celebrations, we symbolically free them by writing the words on birds and hanging them in the library. You can add your word to the flock by asking for a bird at the front desk. Once you have chosen your word and decorated the bird to your liking, the staff will release it to join the others. Help us make it the largest flock of free words that the Stettler Public Library has ever had.
The library currently has a display of books wrapped in brown paper. These books have been banned or challenged somewhere in Canada in the last five years. The Library is challenging you to not choose a book by its cover but by a short clue on the brown wrapping. These books can be signed out, but you cannot unwrap it until you get the book home.
We want you to proclaim proudly that you have read a banned or challenged book. By the doors of the library is a chart with the titles of books or magazines that have been challenged in Canada in the last ten years. Add your name to the chart and put a red dot beside the title of each challenged book that you have read. You will be surprised by some of the titles on the list.
Freedom to Read Week is important to the staff of the Stettler Public Library because the concept of freedom of choice of information is a fundamental belief that the staff stands by. Come in and take a look at the display of posters that are part of the history of Freedom to Read Week at the Stettler Public Library. These are the official posters that have been commissioned by the Book and Periodical Council to promote Freedom to Read Week over the twenty-five years plus that the week has been celebrated. Do not worry if you cannot make it to the library during Freedom to Read Week because this is a permanent display at the Stettler Public Library.
Our regular programs are ongoing and you or your children can join in anytime. Join Shaunzy on Tuesday at 4 p.m. to “Learn to Draw Anime”. Anime is a form of animation that has developed in Japan and Shaunzy is very good at it. You can see his artwork on the television at the front of the library or on the library’s YouTube channel (the link of which can be found on the Library’s homepage at http://spl.prl.ab.ca). Shaunzy is also available on Mondays to Wednesdays and Saturday mornings to help with any computer or technical question that you may have.
Don’t forget the afterschool programs on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., Read and Rhyme Playtime on Wednesday mornings at 10:30 a.m. and Itsy Bitsy Yoga on Fridays at 10:30. Our Reader’s Circle meets the first Thursday of every month at 7:30 p.m. and the Brain Candy Book Club meets on the first Tuesday of every month at 7:30 p.m. Visit our Facebook page (Stettler Bibliotheque) to keep up to date on all the special programming we do.