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OXBOW - The Oxbow Public Library in February 1908 after the Public Libraries Act was passed in 1906. It only had 200 books and was located in King Edward Hall. Moving to a new building on Prospect Avenue in June 1981, it now holds 7,800 items for guests to enjoy.

Meagan Andersen is the librarian, and she will celebrate one year in the position at the end of April. The summer that Andersen graduated from high school, she worked at the library and now 15 years later, is once again employed there.

She had been with a local non-profit organization, but she wanted something that was more suited to her skills, which include art, crafts, events and spending time with kids and the genres of books.

Open 25 hours per week, the library offers an array of programs held weekly and monthly.

A Lego club is held every Tuesday and is the most popular event, with over 60 Lego sets to build.

This after-school program began last year and it skyrocketed from there. The library is always looking for donations to increase their Lego inventory.

Attempting to hold a story time has been a challenge with two to four people attending. They hope that this program will grow as it offers the young children a chance to socialize.

There are a lot of kids' programs at the library, such as the kids' art club, kids' eco craft club, and kids STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) club.

One or two teen programs are held each month, along with adult Scrabble and knitting, which run weekly.

Global Gatherings is the name of their cooking class. Each month they make a dish from a new country at no cost to those who attend. People are welcome to join in or simply taste test the food.

Thursday evenings they remain open to accommodate the people who work during the day, and in the summer this coincides with the Oxbow Farmers' Market, which is extremely popular.

Andersen applies for as many grants as possible as it is the grants that allow for the extras provided at no extra cost for the people. They received over $5,000 in grants last year to help their programs.

Also, in 2023 they drafted a letter which was sent out to fundraise for the children’s non-fiction section that was quite dated. This brought them $2,000 in new books over the year. Telus gave the branch a large grant which contributed to a science-geared learning space and over 50 new non-fiction books were added to the collection.

The first winter art show held in February was an enormous success, with artists aged eight to 70 presenting a wide variety of mediums. About 50 people attended the show to view the art made from charcoal, oil, watercolour and acrylic. Beadwork, quilts, marker maps, mosaic and photography were also a part of the show.

Andersen said there has been a lot of interest for another show to be held in the fall.