Friends of library ready to expand their reach

The Friends of Pointe Claire Library group is hoping for bigger and better things in the coming year.

The non-profit group, whose aim is to promote the awareness, development and support of the library and its services, is in the process of registering with federal authorities to become an official charitable organization, which will allow them to provide tax receipts for donations, said Andrew Swidzinski, vice-president of the group.

Also on the group’s agenda is the possible expansion of the central library. Swidzinski hopes the library expansion will become a campaign issue as Pointe Claire residents head to the polls for a municipal election Nov. 1. “We are in a position where we are running out of room and can’t add new materials,” he said. “The best solution would be the expansion of the existing space. There is room to do it between the police station and the arena.”

However, Mayor Bill McMurchie said the expansion of library is not being considered by the city at the time and he pointed out the library is well-stocked, with about 500,000 documents, and well-financed when compared to other Montreal-area municipal libraries. The library expansion “is not near the top of our list” of projects, the mayor added. “We are very close to the top in Quebec (in terms of funding per capita),” McMurchie said. “We have a very excellent facility. Yes, a bigger library would have more books but at $80 per capita, that is a very respectable average (of funding). The city is proud of that. We are spending good money for good services.”

On top of their annual used book sale held at Bob Birnie Arena this past weekend, the group, which formed about three years ago, hopes to establish an ongoing book sale in the area near the front entrance of the central library. So far, funds raised by the group have paid for additions to the library’s collection of books and audio-visual items. Swidzinski believes it will be difficult to keep existing materials while continuing to add new items without an expansion.