The Grande Prairie Public Library is gearing up for its summertime festivities in a big way, with numerous events and developments throughout the warm season.
GPPL Director Hailey McCullough presented a report during city council’s committee meetings on June 11th, describing some of the new and continued projects going on at the library.
Recently, the library opted to open up on Sundays, which McCullough says was an easy decision based on the growing number of visitors the GPPL has seen this year.
“We’ve really seen an uptick in the number of people coming to the library over the years, our overall visitors compared to the previous year were up almost 20 per cent,” she says. “We see a demand for the service, we’re seeing more people come through the doors this year than last year already so its a good time to look at expanding our hours.”
McCullough was candid when asked about staff losses by council members. Crediting her strong core team of staff at the library, McCullough says the facility is now back at full capacity, providing the services so many residents have come to know.
“It was definitely difficult, we’re lucky to have a really good core team at the library and everyone just pitched in and helped, we made it work because we had to,” she says. “Everyone did a little bit more work to keep things running smoothly and make sure the library is there for the public.”
In terms of summer programming, the GPPL is gearing up to begin its traditional Summer Reading Games program for children, teens, and adults, and this year’s theme is “cosmic circus.”
“We might have some programs where we’re doing things that are in line with a circus kind of theme, or things that are aligned with cosmic, outer space, astronauts, that sort of thing,” McCullough says.
The events will begin during the GPPL’s annual Kickoff Party on June 22nd, which will see activities like face painting, carnival games, and even a bouncy castle for residents to enjoy.
