'A Hub of Our Community'
Sahra Bella Clements Earl was proud to be the first to borrow a book from the new nə́c̓aʔmat ct Strathcona branch on East Hastings.
Day 1: Attend the opening of VPL’s new nə́c̓aʔmat ct Strathcona branch and check out the first book.
Day 1 plus three hours: go back again and get the next book in the series.
“It was really cool when everyone got to walk around the new library [for the first time],” says Sahra Bella Clements Earl, 11, who checked out the Raina Telgemeier book Smile – the first book ever borrowed from the new library location.
“Next day I was telling all my friends,” says the avid reader and library lover, who likes the fresh, new books and enjoys coming to the branch with friends. “I like that it is super-close. You see a lot of kids here because there are now a lot of books for kids my age.”
VPL’s new nə́c̓aʔmat ct Strathcona branch on East Hastings opened in April 2017, and for the first time brought a full-service library location to the community.
Sahra Bella and her mother, Lorinda Earl, have a deep connection to the neighbourhood, and together they have lived in the Downtown Eastside on and off for years. Both were among the first visitors to the branch when it opened.
Beyond the books, DVDs and magazines at the branch, says Lorinda, it’s exciting for the community to have free gathering spaces and a mini digital media studio, the Bud Osborn Creation Space – where anyone can create, preserve, and share history and stories.
“It has become a new hub of our community,” she says of the branch. “People in the neighbourhood really have a sense of being connected to the space.
“It makes me feel proud that the whole neighbourhood is evolving in a way that cares about the community.”
Vancouver's oldest neighbourhood gets a new library branch
VPL’s new nə́c̓aʔmat ct Strathcona branch was packed with people just hours after opening, and its popularity continued from there.
Vancouver's newest library location opened in April 2017, and is a joint initiative of the library, the City of Vancouver, and YWCA Metro Vancouver. It includes a branch library, community and family programming, and safe and affordable housing for low-income single mothers and their children.
It welcomed more than 180,000 visits in 2017, and serves Vancouver’s Strathcona, Chinatown, and the Downtown Eastside neighbourhoods.
It’s one of the largest branches in the city’s library system – 11,000 square feet – and features diverse public spaces and services, including a digital creation space and Internet access; flexible meeting, programming, and community gathering spaces; and a diverse collection of books, DVDs, magazines, and newspapers in English and other languages.