By Sue Tiffin

The following are brief reports of items discussed at the May 11 Haliburton County Public Library board meeting, and from a Friends of the HCPL press release. 

Ontario Parks Passes can be loaned out for one week from the library to library card holders, offering free all-day entrance to provincial parks. Pass holders are also recommended to get a daily vehicle permit for the date they are visiting the parks to guarantee their spot. The vehicle permit is free with the pass, and can be reserved at reservations.ontarioparks.ca up to a week in advance of a trip. Additional information is available at 1-888-ONT-PARK or at the Parks Ontario blog at https://www.ontarioparks.com/parksblog/library-lending-permit/. 

Tuning in from home 

Just before the holiday weekend, the HCPL will be adding further content to the Kanopy streaming service, from Warner Bros., MGM and Paramount Pictures, in addition to what is already available including Criterion films, foreign films and revolving feature films. Kanopy allows library patrons to access for free thousands of TV shows, films including documentaries, and kids programming from TVs, phones or tablets and desktop and laptop computers by signing in with their library card. 

“We know that when people are up at the cottage, or in the local community and it’s a rainy day, you might want to watch a movie and we just want to increase our choices,” said Chris Stephenson, HCPL CEO/chief librarian. “We’re able to do that right now, we want to meet the demand, it’s a great idea and we want to make it happen.”

Generally Kanopy streaming service is typically a feature offered at larger libraries.

“Thanks to the generous donation by the Rotary Club of Haliburton, it’s been made possible to Haliburton County Public Library,” Stephenson told the Times. “Once you create a Kanopy account, each person with a library card will have five credits per month to access films, documentaries, tv series, children’s programming, and learning courses. At the moment there are several films and documentaries on Kanopy related to current events in Ukraine.”

Kanopy Kids allows for unlimited watching of movies, TV shows, language learning episodes and family-friend documentaries.

For more information visit haliburtoncpl.kanopy.com.

Accessibility at the library 

The library’s new website will be accessible, and the library’s rebranding includes use of a font that is more accessible and clearer to read. 

Dysart et al Mayor Andrea Roberts, who sits on the library board, said in the past when she had received the librarians’ report, the style of the font was fine but it was quite light using a device. Stephenson thanked her for sharing. 

“Accessibility takes many forms as you know, and often in my experience, for every person that does eventually speak up, there might be five or 10 people waiting in the wings that wished they’d said something,” said Stephenson. “It really does help us when you point it out.”

Stephenson said they’d recently received a letter from a patron who asked for name tags on staff if they’re wearing a mask, so they could be more easily recognized, and also said when she’s speaking to staff through the glass installed at library desks, she can’t tell what people are saying because of sound being muffled through masks and the glass. Stephenson said an idea from the dentists’ office is to install technology that helps sound get around the glass, which is in place to protect staff and patrons during the ongoing pandemic.

“Thanks to this one comment from a patron, we’re going to roll this out in probably the next 10 days,” said Stephenson. “But again, how many people have struggled to understand what someone’s saying because of our masks and distance. And the glass is here to stay, it’s built into the desk quite frankly and we have to think long-term about everyone and their access at the desk.” 

Mega Book Nook Sale 

The Friends of the Haliburton County Public Library will be holding a mega book nook sale at the Minden Library on May 21 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The sale will be held in the book nook as well as outdoors on the library balcony.

The sale offers a variety of gently read books: thrillers, mysteries, romance, biographies, children and youth selections, Canadian authors, cookbooks, gardening, coffee table books, science fiction/fantasy, spiritual and other non-fiction books.

Payment is by donation. All money raised by the Friends of the Haliburton County Public Library supports library enhancements and programs.