Cambridge-Narrows Regional Library

This was the opening speech made by Chairperson Brenda Dunsmore for the official opening August 31st, 2008.

"The day has finally come!

It is the culmination of a dream, perseverance, and dedication to a cause by dozens and dozens of people.

Over the past eight years, a great many volunteers from this community have come together with one common goal “a library”. Thank you


.

 

We have had many hurdles to overcome – creating a suitable building, boxes and boxes of books, lack of shelving, a little knowledge of cataloguing and learning how to operate a library. All these were conquered because of unwavering support from the Village Council, enthusiastic volunteers, and tremendous backing throughout the area to see this project succeed.

We have made new friends and learned a lot about libraries and books. It has been fun and continues to be. As we have often said if we make a mistake “you can’t fire me”.



We’re extremely proud of our library with over 1800 hours already spent by volunteers in the last twelve months and hundreds more since the year 2000 when the dream began. We have catalogued over 8000 books and have not purchased any until today; further proof that the region has strongly supported this library.

We still need volunteers to keep the library open and 3 hours a month can help us do that. If anyone is interested please talk to one of the directors or volunteers.

 

It is our hope that the library becomes a truly regional center for young children to seniors to enjoy with programs, book clubs, guest speakers and much more. A love of reading is so important for all ages and it is hoped with a library in our community more people can share in that love and feel a sense of pride in a facility designed to help improve our quality of life."

This is Chairperson Brenda Dunsmore's speech that she gave to guests on the 10th anniversary of the library - August 12, 2018. 

Honored guests, volunteers, and friends of the library thank you for coming. Over the past ten years we have had a wonderful time encouraging reading, trying new ideas, and seeing this library grow.

In the beginning the library board spent most of their time deciding how to set up shelving and donated furniture, how to keep warm, (we had plastic on our windows), (how we catalogued) and how to pay for almost anything we needed. Through the wonderful help from many sources - the Village, NB government, federal government, the community school, volunteers, RCMP Foundation, and generous donations we were able to make this library what it is today. We have over 600 families registered, more than 6000 books catalogued and over 20 volunteers. This library has become a show-case for our village and certainly a meeting place for everyone. It has been fun to see it grow.  We call the library "OUR LIBRARY" as we encourage volunteers to suggest ways to make this place more efficient and to better meet the needs of our community. The board has supported all new ideas.

I 'd like to just mention a few ideas we have done - talking circles (Marilyn Erb), school program (Barb Magee), a book club ( our dear Irene Lefevure), port-tasting seminar, financial evenings, craft Saturdays, summer reading club for kids, & Life at the Lakes kids program.

We were able to get 2 grants - Talk Boxes for speech and child development, and Sensitive Issues bags for families who would like help dealing with major issues in their family (bullying, death, etc). We have had numerous authors come to present their works such as Sherri Fitch, Riel Nason, and Sue White to name a few. The book club is a very active group that certainly encourages reading.

Dr Ed Walter has spent a lot of time over here as he lived across from us and he felt we needed to replace the elm tree that died so we now have our special tree.** This is how "our" library works. The late Andy Turnbull was one of the original members of the board. He donated the front addition to the building. The late & special friend Irene Lefeuvre was a founding board member and spent hours helping to get this library to be what it is today. Her memorial is the beautiful shelving for the children's section so our children can accommodate their love of reading.

About 4 years ago we decided to apply to be a "Visitor Information Center" (VIC) for this area. We have designed a map for the area and applied to have the question mark signs posted for visitors to come see us. This has been very successful as we have over 1700 people through our building in the 2 summer months each year.

We have tried to participate if the community. We have a Christmas Concert as part of "Christmas Begins in our Village". We did a breakfast during  Community Days and now Life at the Lakes. We apply to the federal and provincial governments for 3 or 4 students each summer and have been very fortunate.   

The last, most important part of this library is the volunteers. Without them we could not keep this library open. There is a friendship that develops that make this 'job' so great. Everyone who joins our team is appreciated.

I am so proud of this library and am very pleased to be one of the volunteers. Thank you volunteers for your dedication.

We don't know what the next 10 years will bring but we know that the library is now an important part of our community as we move forward.