Children’s Services
The TD Summer Reading Club, on the theme of Go! was the highlight of OPL’s children’s programming in 2013. More than 16,000 kids took part in the reading club, programs, and activities, both in the Library and through community-based outreach, and read more than 162,000 books collectively. Children’s entertainer, Tante Caroline, performed at the Nepean Centrepointe branch as part of OPL’s Family Literacy Day celebration. The Kids' Lit Café saw local authors and illustrators gather at the Greenboro branch to celebrate literature, giving kids the opportunity to meet artists who bring fantastic worlds and characters to life.
Teen Services
The 4th annual Teen Author Fest line-up was pretty spectacular in 2013, bringing popular authors like Lemony Snicket, Elizabeth Wein and Lauren Oliver to Ottawa for author readings and book signings across the city. The 3rd annual Teen Tech Week Video Contest offered teens 13-18 the chance to win great prizes by creating a one-minute video on their book of choice. More than 100 people gathered in Centrepointe Studio Theatre at Ben Franklin Place to view the top 10 videos created by the teens, and to find out which ones would be deemed top three. OPL partnered with SAW Video for this event, who offered prize packs and a guest judge.
Adult programming
In 2013, OPL partnered with the Canadian Broadcast Corporation in Ottawa (CBC Ottawa) to bring Ottawans the Human Library for a second year in a row; an event that provided an opportunity for members of the public to have open, frank, respectful conversations with people (human “books”), from all walks of life, to create a better understanding of one another. After a hugely successful Ottawa event in 2012, the 2013 Human Library evolved into a nation-wide CBC initiative with events taking place in 15 cities across the country on the same day, January 26.
Performing arts partnerships
OPL renewed the “Stages and Pages” partnership with the Great Canadian Theatre Company (GCTC) as well as the partnership with Mouvement d'Implication Francophone d'Orléans (MIFO) to create recommended resource lists to help theatre-goers further their exploration of the themes of the current season’s plays. In addition, OPL worked with Cirque du Soleil for their show “Totem” that was performed in Ottawa during the summer of 2013. Branches were outfitted with life-size cut outs of performers, and tickets were given to draw for the show, while branches put together displays about Cirque with items from their collection.
Toolkit to promote French services
The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport provided OPL with a grant to develop a toolkit for public libraries in Ontario serving Francophone and Francophile communities. By analyzing data from consultations held with the Francophone community, as well as soliciting comments and ideas from organizations and library employees, OPL was able to determine courses of action to better serve the needs and interests of this segment of the population. After testing and implementing a number of these recommendations, a toolkit was developed which includes templates, practical examples, tips and tricks for planning and promoting French-language services and resources. Destination Biblio, available on OPL’s Infonet, was promoted across Canada and has been consulted by a number of community organizations and public libraries.
Keeping up with the latest
OPL’s customers want the latest books, music and magazines. In 2013, Library employees selected, purchased, and processed approximately 230,000 new items to add to OPL’s collection helping to meet our customers’ appetite for information and entertainment.