Blasting off with books in northern Alberta

Waskatenau relaunches its library, opening doors to knowledge and adventure

A library is a spaceship, American science fiction author Isaac Asimov once remarked: “(It) will take you to the farthest reaches of the universe . . . to the far past and the far future . . . to a better and happier and more useful life.”

Civic leaders in the village of Waskatenau, Alta., obviously agree. After the Anne Chorney Public Library lost its space in a local school, the facility was forced to put its books in storage and close its doors until the village’s library board could find a new location.

More than four decades ago, Anne Chorney, a mother and trained librarian, launched a campaign to open the first public library in Waskatenau, located about 90 kilometres northeast of Edmonton. The Anne Chorney Public Library, based at Holy Family Catholic School, became the region’s only library, attracting membership from around Smokey Lake County and beyond.

“For a small town like Waskatenau, the library is your resource, your entertainment,” says Shawnalee Shwetz, chair of the village of Waskatenau’s library board. “For a year-and-a-half, we didn’t have that.”

The Lakeland Catholic School Board, which needed the library’s former space for extra classrooms, helped the library find a new venue — the Riverside Schoolhouse, an historic building from 1942.

Given the library’s 18-month sabbatical, its resources needed to be brought up to date, in addition to the retrofit required for its new surroundings.

“Enbridge was proud to help the Anne Chorney Public Library with a donation of $10,000,” says Rick Doblanko, a senior manager of project execution at Enbridge. “The library is a community-builder, a place where people come together and develop relationships that create a strong, vibrant community.”

Waskatenau is located near a trio of Enbridge’s projects and operations – the existing Waupisoo pipeline, part of Enbridge’s Athabasca system; and the Woodland Pipeline Extension and Norlite Pipeline projects, with projected in-service dates of spring 2015 and spring 2017, respectively.

“We were glad to support the library in its efforts to improve the quality of life of the citizens of Waskatenau,” says Malina Adams, an Enbridge stakeholder relations advisor.

In addition to funding new library resources, Enbridge’s grant will help expand programs – such as literacy for pre-schoolers, author visits, and a literacy bus that will deliver resources to remote homesteads. The relaunched Anne Chorney Public Library will provide citizens of Waskatenau with the opportunity to learn, grow, dream, and enjoy a better quality of life, all within the walls of a 1942 schoolhouse.

Asimov was right — a library is a spaceship, and Waskatenau is sketching out a flight plan for unlimited knowledge and adventure.