Sioux Lookout Public Library hosts Family Expo

Mike Lawrence - Staff Writer

The Sioux Lookout Public Library (SLPL) was a bustling space on the morning of Saturday, May 14 as five community organizations focused on child development were on hand to provide informal information on the resources they had to offer local families. Exhibitors at the event included representatives from Sioux Mountain Public School, Firefly, the Northwestern Health Unit, the EarlyOn Centre and Community Living Dryden-Sioux Lookout. 
Each agency had its own table set up with information on the services and resources available for families to access. 
As Emily McIntyre, SLPL CEO and Chief Librarian explained, the idea was to allow families to connect with the resources these organizations can provide in a more informal meet and greet format, commenting, “With the library being an information hub, we wanted to bring people together and have this really nice day for families to be able to drop in and explore community resources. It’s nice if you are a young family and maybe not sure how to access services... this is a casual way to inquire without having to formally reach out.”
McIntyre continued, “We are really excited to partner with other organizations from the community. All of the organizations also contributed by providing snacks and prizes and activities for kids to participate in, so we’re really anticipating it being a great event for the public and we are just happy to be able to bring people together in the community and have activities to do that serve families and patrons.”
Speaking after the event McIntyre noted that the turnout was good overall, with 28 adults and 32 youngsters taking advantage of the opportunity to meet the participating organizations.
“Feedback was very positive,” McIntyre added. “Families were grateful for an event that offered informational services and we heard several times how nice it was that the library is a welcoming space for families and engaging family activities.”
McIntyre also wanted to make the public aware that the SLPL had just launched its first newsletter.
“This is our first ever Sioux Lookout Public Library newsletter,” McIntyre stated. “We just started putting it out. It’s mostly to target people who maybe aren’t on Facebook.”
McIntyre continued, “We’d like to start distributing this by email and we’ll put a few out at the front desk here and hopefully in Hudson. It’s just a nice way for people to know a bit about us, what new books we are getting, and upcoming events. It’ll be small and informal. This just gives us another way to reach out to the public. So, if anyone would like to subscribe to the newsletter, they can email us (at SLPL@live.ca) and say that they want to be subscribed and we will get that set up.”