Increase in youth traffic at Redcliff library

By Justin Seward
The Redcliff Public Library is off to a busy start to their 50th anniversary year and is seeing more programming to keep local youth active in literacy.
“We’re here to promote literacy and just a place to do all this programing that’s not available anywhere else in the community,” said Tracy Weinrauch, Redcliff Public Library’s manager.
“I always call us the hub of the community because if it’s going on, it’s going on here. If I’m going to start a program, I like to make sure we have a good handle on it, that there’s a good attendance and making it the best it can be before I bring on another program.”
Weinrauch said the focus this year is going to be on the Tweens  group of ages 10-12 because the programming in the past has been geared towards babies with storytime and the summer reading program for ages five to 10, but from there the activities have dropped off. The library increased the children’s fiction section and rented video games to get more interest from the Tween group. Candy Sushi is coming up on April 21 and the kids will have to pre-register for the activity.
The library will continue programs such as the Shake, Rattle and Read which allows infants and toddlers  to drop-in for activities including rhymes and stories, while there  the Lego program will continue every Saturday morning.
The feedback has been tremendous from the younger groups and the partnership with the Redcliff Mennonite Alternative Program as their library has brought more kids in with their families.
“We have increased the traffic in the library over the last five years by 7,000 people,” said Weinrauch.
“We’re just looking to keep that going. Our memberships in general have increased. I’d probably like to see more teenagers. That’s one area we need to focus on and increase any programming we can. They start to find their friends and go do things with them instead of mom and dad.”
The Redcliff Pubic Library’s future will see a renovation of the meeting room by the fall and there is ongoing negotiations with the town in applying for another grant for the exterior of the facility.
More information on programs can be found at redcliff.shortgrass.ca.

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