Nov 24

Written by: Joe Longo
Saturday, November 24, 2007 

The public is invited to a live "Deck the Halls" holiday music performance by Chime FX, Melodia and talented members of library staff in the LaMarsh Room of the Victoria Avenue Library tomorrow from 1:30to 4:30pm. Drop-in for an hour or stay for the whole afternoon to enjoy this free family program. Light refreshments will be served.

There are helpful books about holiday entertaining, recipes, decorations, stories and tips for creating new family celebrations. Borrow holiday CDs and DVDs which include traditional and contemporary music and films. There are many children's books about Christmas which will delight youngsters of all ages. See the colourful winter displays at all four libraries.

Grey Cup fans may wish to borrow the new book "The water boy : from the sidelines to the owner's box" by Bob Ackles. Ackles was the BC Lions Football Club's first water boy and rose to Club President. He was also an executive of four NFL clubs.

The Canadians beat the Americans in the recent "Battle of the Borrowed Books". The public borrowed 103,478 books and other materials during October from the public libraries of Youngstown, Lewiston and Niagara Falls New York and Niagara-on-the-Lake and Niagara Falls Ontario. These five public libraries issued a call to arms to see which side of the Niagara River could produce the higher percentage increase in borrowing during October 2007 compared to October 2006. The "Battle of the Borrowed Books" encouraged the public to borrow more library books, magazines and audio visual materials in a contest between American and Canadian readers.

The results are in and the Canadian side won with an 8% increase in borrowing compared to a 2% increase on the U.S. side. Canadians borrowed 68,247 library materials in October and Americans borrowed 35,231. The Canadians will have bragging rights for many years in this friendly war of words.

These libraries chose October because the 195th anniversary of the Battle of Queenston Heights was celebrated on Oct. 13th. Each library displayed books about the War of 1812 during October so the public could have a better understanding of this important conflict.

Public library cards are issued free of charge to the 170,000 residents in the five communities and there are 778,000 books and other materials available for borrowing.

As we commemorate almost 200 years of peace between our two countries, enlist now at your library, get a free library card and arm yourself with a book to strengthen increased reading in our community.