Cochrane’s library is looking to get on track with a unique way to add some much-needed space.
Jeri Maitland, executive director of the Nan Boothby Memorial Library, said since taking over her post about 18 months ago, she’s always thought the Railway Street West building looks like a train station.
The facility has worked with the thematic to enhance the fun feeling it evokes: the children’s area now boasts a wooden boxcar built by a retired carpenter, and a large, colourful mural depicting a train station covers most of the kids’ corner walls. Vintage furniture is also featured in different spots throughout the library.
“I would really like this to feel like it’s an old train station, even though it’s a newer building,” said Maitland of the 16-year-old structure.
While the library’s esthetics are changing, one thing Maitland can’t do anything about is its size.
With a 40 per cent increase in programming in the last year and a boost in membership to nearly 12,000 kids, adults and families, the current space is about 10,000 square feet too small for the size of the community.
Construction issues like a lack of load-bearing walls or a useable basement means the organization isn’t able to add any more books.
“We can’t expand our collection any further,” Maitland said. “We don’t have a safe space to put more shelving. It’s kind of a predicament.”
Out of this dilemma came the idea to add a remodelled train car to the outdoor grounds as an out-of-the-box way to give visitors more opportunities to sit, gather, learn, explore and create.
“We’ll find an old train car and we’ll just plug it in the backyard,” Maitland said. “I think we need a full-fledged passenger-sized train car. If we can find one that somebody wants to donate to us, we’ll figure out how to move it, how to renovate it.”
For today’s libraries, Maitland said bigger does equal better, as they evolve from a simple place to read and research into a more complex “community living room,” with people from all walks of life engaging with each other.
“You can see a homeless person sitting beside a person with a PhD and everyone is comfortable,” she said. “That’s why we’re still relevant – and why we’re still important.”
Staying relevant is essential to continue the upward trend the Cochrane library has enjoyed over the last couple of years. To that end, Maitland said the Nan is transforming its boardroom into a flexible Learning Lab – complete with laptop computers, green screen technology, a podcasting studio and a scrapbooking cutter.
The facility received about $8,800 from the Bow RiversEdge Campground Society and raised another $6,600 at its annual book sale to get the project off the ground.
“It’s more about creating and making than it is about playing,” said Maitland. “We’re working really hard to turn it into a 21st century hub.”
Visitors will be able to start using the Learning Lab on Nov. 30, while securing a train is an ongoing project. With the dream of a decades-old boxcar outside alongside an innovative learning lab inside, Maitland hopes the library will continue to be a place of learning for the ages.
“We want the library to be something that people talk about and that people are proud of,” she said. “Miracles and magic can happen when you put things out there.”
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