October is Canadian Library Month, when libraries across Canada celebrate the ways libraries enhance our lives. Since its 1985 start in the basement of Whistler’s municipal hall, the Whistler Public Library (WPL) has evolved from simply lending books to playing many roles in our community. Today it’s a refuge, offering comfort and safety in recent heat domes and periods of extreme cold. It’s a point of connection to critical community services. It’s a place of learning, offering educational programs and dozens of online courses. It’s a sanctuary, offering a peaceful place to curl up in one of our cosy new reading booths, or to warm up by our fireplace.
And more than ever, WPL is a place for experiment, discovery, and play. With the exciting new expansion of our “unusual items” collection, WPL now has something for pretty much everybody. For textile artists, we have sewing machines, knitting machines, and a pocket loom. For astronomers, a telescope. For birders, binoculars and spotting scopes. For gardeners, a seed library. For kids, we have three different learning robots. For families, we have a vast selection of board games. You can also borrow one of our disc golf sets and explore the awesome disc golf course at Lost Lake. Or, while this amazing weather lasts, you can borrow a croquet set, a bocce set, a giant Jenga, or a bean bag toss and have some fun with friends in Florence Petersen Park, right behind the library. It’s all free to borrow, even our new loaner laptops.
Our thanks go out to the many in our community who’ve already observed Canadian Library Month by donating to Whistler Public Library. Your generosity keeps our extraordinary library an innovative and community-serving place. We couldn’t do it without you.
Regardless of whether you’re in a position to donate, please come celebrate Canadian Library Month with us by dropping by and checking out all that Whistler Public Library has to offer.
