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Read more about "Cool Fact Books for Hot Days"A few times a month, Giselle Wong brings the Library directly to others. She’s a long time volunteer with Homebound Readers, a program for people of all ages with mobility or health concerns.The Library program is more than just a book delivery service. “It’s about companionship,” Wong says. The Calgarians she helps are delighted to have fresh books to read and a friendly face to talk to.Wong’s responsibilities include picking up holds or choosing materials, delivering those resources to elderly Library members, and returning their borrowed items. Often, she sticks around for a visit over tea. Wong enjoys those conversations; listening to stories from seniors gives her understanding into another generation, she says.The Homebound Readers program started in 1974, and continues to this day because of volunteers like Wong. Over the past 13 years, Wong has volunteered about 500 hours with the program.Wong works as a library assistant at an elementary school, and says volunteering is another way to share her deep love of libraries with others. That passion started when Wong was a youngster who spent extensive time at a public library in Ontario, learning English as a second language. “Libraries have changed me,” Wong says. “They opened my eyes to the world.”If you are interested in volunteering with the Library, please visit the Volunteers page.
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Read more about "Ask our experts"Norma High, a volunteer who joined the Library in 1974, is so passionate about bringing books to people who can not otherwise access them that she got her whole family involved in the cause.For nearly 44 years, Norma has volunteered with the Libraries in Residence program, delivering books to people in a continuing care facility. Norma, 85, is one of the Library’s longest-serving volunteers.“I have always had a love for books,” Norma said. She loves visiting and bringing books to residents at Carewest Glenmore Park, an Alberta Health Services facility in southwest Calgary. With her background in nursing, Norma is a perfect fit for delivering books to the hospital’s residents.“Volunteering is giving, giving back to the community, giving back because I can,” she said. “We want to put a little bit of sunshine into people’s lives.”Norma’s husband, Bob High, started volunteering with Libraries in Residence in 1985.“Besides delivering books, it was an opportunity to talk about local history and events with the residents,” said Bob, 88. He would sometimes go in place of Norma and went on to build his own relationships with the long-term care residents.“It gives you a lot of satisfaction,” Bob said.Hearing stories from residents and discussing books with them led Norma to share her experiences with her children, and later her grandchildren. Norma started to bring her son and daughter to volunteer with her when they were 13 and 11.During their days off from school and over summer break, Alan High and Glenna High Bagley started to love volunteering. Norma saw her children learn how to share, and in Glenna’s case, she came out of her shell.“I absolutely loved it,” Glenna said. She remembers being initially nervous around elderly people as a child, but she soon came to love delivering books and visiting with people. She said her son, Matthew, was as shy as she was when he started volunteering at the age of eight with his sister Taylor, age ten.“I am so proud of my children and grandchildren,” Norma said.Norma, who is called the “book lady” by hospital residents, found that residents rely on her book delivery every two weeks. One resident said books were more important than her bath, because books were what kept her at peace while in the hospital.Norma and Bob, who have lived in Calgary for 48 years, keep a private collection of every genre of book you can think of. They enjoy travelling and have visited many places in Canada and around the world. On their travels, they pick up books to add to their catalogued collection — the oldest one being from the 1850s.That extensive home library is popular with Norma’s children and grandchildren, who regularly borrow books from it. When they find a book they like and want to “inherit”, they mark it with their own coloured dot.Norma continues to share her love of reading with hospital residents, and plans to for as long as she can — “until I fall over, or until I can’t push the cart anymore,” she said.The High and Bagley families are leaving their three-generation legacy in another way, too. They are commemorating their love of reading and dedication to volunteering with two windows at the new Central Library.We want to know how the Library has made a difference in your life. Submit your own Library Story online.
Read more about "Stories ‘I Give Back Because I Can’ Norma High delivers the joy of reading to others in her Library Story"Explore the world of animals, important people, and places in easy-to-read articles, images, and videos. You can also solve puzzles while learning fun facts or try out science experiments. World Book Online for Kids is developed expressly for young users.Not sure how to start? Watch the tutorial on Niche Academy: World Book tutorial.
Read more about "Learn about animals, people, and places"Norma High, a volunteer who joined the Library in 1974, is so passionate about bringing books to people who can not otherwise access them that she got her whole family involved in the cause.For nearly 44 years, Norma has volunteered with the Libraries in Residence program, delivering books to people in a continuing care facility. Norma, 85, is one of the Library’s longest-serving volunteers.“I have always had a love for books,” Norma said. She loves visiting and bringing books to residents at Carewest Glenmore Park, an Alberta Health Services facility in southwest Calgary. With her background in nursing, Norma is a perfect fit for delivering books to the hospital’s residents.“Volunteering is giving, giving back to the community, giving back because I can,” she said. “We want to put a little bit of sunshine into people’s lives.”Norma’s husband, Bob High, started volunteering with Libraries in Residence in 1985.“Besides delivering books, it was an opportunity to talk about local history and events with the residents,” said Bob, 88. He would sometimes go in place of Norma and went on to build his own relationships with the long-term care residents.“It gives you a lot of satisfaction,” Bob said.Hearing stories from residents and discussing books with them led Norma to share her experiences with her children, and later her grandchildren. Norma started to bring her son and daughter to volunteer with her when they were 13 and 11.During their days off from school and over summer break, Alan High and Glenna High Bagley started to love volunteering. Norma saw her children learn how to share, and in Glenna’s case, she came out of her shell.“I absolutely loved it,” Glenna said. She remembers being initially nervous around elderly people as a child, but she soon came to love delivering books and visiting with people. She said her son, Matthew, was as shy as she was when he started volunteering at the age of eight with his sister Taylor, age ten.“I am so proud of my children and grandchildren,” Norma said.Norma, who is called the “book lady” by hospital residents, found that residents rely on her book delivery every two weeks. One resident said books were more important than her bath, because books were what kept her at peace while in the hospital.Norma and Bob, who have lived in Calgary for 48 years, keep a private collection of every genre of book you can think of. They enjoy travelling and have visited many places in Canada and around the world. On their travels, they pick up books to add to their catalogued collection — the oldest one being from the 1850s.That extensive home library is popular with Norma’s children and grandchildren, who regularly borrow books from it. When they find a book they like and want to “inherit”, they mark it with their own coloured dot.Norma continues to share her love of reading with hospital residents, and plans to for as long as she can — “until I fall over, or until I can’t push the cart anymore,” she said.The High and Bagley families are leaving their three-generation legacy in another way, too. They are commemorating their love of reading and dedication to volunteering with two windows at the new Central Library.We want to know how the Library has made a difference in your life. Submit your own Library Story online.
Read more about "Stories ‘I Give Back Because I Can’ Norma High delivers the joy of reading to others in her Library Story"Val Lawton is an illustrator who has worked on more than 30 books. Ever since she was a kid, she dreamed about becoming an artist — and credits Calgary Public Library with helping her get there.“I owe Calgary Public Library a great deal, as it was there that I did all my research, where I discovered who my favourite illustrators are, where I determined what my favourite illustration style is, and where I researched the business side of the children’s book publishing industry,” she says.That journey started in 2000, when Val was a stay-at-home mom of a toddler son and infant daughter. A friend of Val’s was secretly writing a book, which she sold to a New York City publisher. Val remembers feeling encouraged when her talented friend told her, “If I could draw like you, I’d be illustrating books.”It was the push she needed. Val decided to start pulling together an art portfolio and market herself as a children’s book illustrator. To do that, she spent hours and hours at the Giuffre Family Library (then known as the Alexander Calhoun Library), poring over the children’s book collection.Val took out books illustrated by Quentin Blake, Simon James, and Charlotte Voake, and used them for inspiration as she practiced her own art over and over again. (Quentin Blake, best known for illustrating books written by Roald Dahl, remains Val’s favourite illustrator.)During her kids’ naptime or after their bedtime, Val would draw. “You just have to slog away at it,” she says. “With those practice pieces, I would find some pieces that I thought were particularly good, and I’d put them in my portfolio. Then I learned how to start approaching publishers.”For that, she used the Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market book in the Library’s collection, a directory with hundreds of listings for publishers. “Slowly but surely, I got the odd job here, then something would snowball into something else,” she says.Val’s illustrations start with pencil outlines in scratchy, black India ink. She lets that sit overnight, then paints with watercolours. Val describes her style as whimsical but not saccharine. “I like not too much detail. Sometimes I’ll do faces that only have eyes. You have to sort of fill in the blank. It’s a relaxed kind of style, not too fussy.”That’s the style Val has long found herself drawn to in other books. “I like illustrations that aren’t too clean, aren’t too polished, leave a little bit up to the imagination,” she says. “I just found my kids seemed to gravitate to that style of illustration as well, so that’s always what’s appealed to me.”Val went on to work full-time as an illustrator, specializing in children’s books. Seeing her illustrations in published books feels “out of this world,” she says. “It’s very exciting.” Her work as an illustrator opened other doors, too, like working as an artist-educator in classrooms through the Royal Conservatory’s Learning Through the Arts program.As the publishing industry changes, Val increasingly works on self-published projects. She enjoys the connections it brings. “I get to work with the author, the person who has actually created the story, whereas in the traditional world of publishing I never meet the author,” she says.One of those self-publishing projects happened a few years ago, with the Calgary Food Bank. Val illustrated the book Emma and the Food Bank, of which proceeds support Calgary Food Bank services and programs. That led Val to her newest gig, a part-time role with the organization as Food Industry Coordinator. Val continues to illustrate part-time, and continues to be an avid and appreciative Library user.“I just think the public Library is the greatest resource on the planet,” she says. “It’s astounding what it does.”We want to know how the Library has made a difference in your life. Submit your own Library Story online.
Read more about "Stories ‘The Greatest Resource on the Planet’ Val Lawton Library Story's helped her share her art with the world"Get started using the digital resources in Calgary Public Library's Digital Library with simple video tutorials. Find tutorials for our most popular digital resources, including: Libby, World Book, Learning Express, Gale Courses, Freegal Music, Flipster and more.
Read more about "Learn how to use Calgary Public Library's digital resources the easy way"The new year is a popular time to set goals for the months ahead. Let the Library help you make those resolutions stick! With hundreds of free resources, programs, and books at your fingertips, we’re confident that you can crush this year’s goals.Get activeIf taking better care of your health is on your list this year, but you know you won’t follow through with a gym membership, join us for some fun, free exercise at the Library. Put your best foot forward at Swingin’ Sundays or loosen up with Yoga at Central Library. Learn some easy new meals from our Eat Clean booklist, and research ways of improving your wellness using Health Source.Watch your walletIf money is on your mind after an expensive holiday season, sign up for free finance programs to learn how to take control of your money, curb your spending, and grow your wealth. Staff-curated titles can also help you Tighten Your Financial Belt.Learn a new languageOn Rosetta Stone, you can learn over 30 languages, including Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Chinese (Mandarin), Hindi, and Persian (Farsi), for free with your Library card, or improve your English skills with interactive lessons. If you prefer in-person instruction, stop by an ESL Coffee and Conversation meeting, or visit the Indigenous Languages Resource Centre. Treaty 7 Language Books are also available to sign out at several community libraries.Make some memoriesLooking for a new way to spend quality time with loved ones this year? Free drop-in programs like Chess in the Library, Crack the Code, and Firefighter Storytime are fun for every age, while little learners in particular will love exploring our Early Learning Centres. Back at home, have a free movie night with selections from Kanopy. You can also check out Ancestry for free during your next Library visit to learn about the family you didn’t know you had.Read moreWe knew you would ask — and we’ve got tips to help you fit more books into your busy schedule. Can’t decide what to read first? Check out our staff-curated booklists to get some ideas to suit your interests. Make reading an event by joining a Book Discussion Group or signing out a Book Club in a Bag with friends. Save some money and cancel subscriptions — you can turn your mobile device into an eReader and audiobook player all in one with Libby and take your book everywhere you go.Sign up for your free Library card to get started!
Read more about "Stories New Year, New You with Library Resources"Give your creativity a boost at Central Library. Your free membership gives you access to bookable studios for audio and video recording, creative multimedia editing, and green screen filming.As a precaution to help limit the spread of COVID-19, creative studio booking is currently paused. We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your ongoing support.
Read more about "Are you the next big YouTube, IGTV, or podcast creator? "Classes can visit Calgary's award-winning Central Library and explore its unique features and offerings.
Read more about "Book a Central Library School Tour"Join Kelly as she discusses her novel, Letters to Singapore, which follows a new immigrant…
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