Our Library…Food for the Soul.

In the November 2011 edition of the magazine Lambert, I wrote an article called “Food For The Soul” on the Saint-Lambert Library, its foundation and early history. I have taken the liberty to reprint it as my blog.

From its modest beginnings in the early part of the twentieth century to the present, the Saint-Lambert Memorial Library owes its very existence to the generosity, diligence and enthusiasm of its citizens’ past and present. It has continued to grow and evolve into a first-class institution of literary knowledge.

Believe it or not, our library first started out in 1916 as a “library on wheels”, an initiative of the South Shore Women’s Club. It functioned well into 1917 and then silence until the end of the First World War. By 1923, with the support of the Imperial Daughters of the Empire, a committee was formed to find an adequate reading room for the library. A generous offer of a member’s apartment was made and a lease was signed for a year at $15 a month. Unfortunately, it was not renewed but the travelling library did continue.

History Repeats Itself

One day in 1946, Elizabeth Wallace and Edith King, while having tea at the home of Mrs. Olive Cormier, president of the South Shore Women’s Club at the time, began discussing the need for a permanent library. Mrs. Cormier presented the project at the next club meeting and it was received with great enthusiasm. Raising money for a building would be the first priority before collecting books.

The library would be founded in the memory of those who gave their lives in the two World Wars. In 1914, the population of Saint Lambert was 3200; 346 men volunteered and 60 lost their lives. In 1939, the population was then 6,350; 830 men and women volunteered and 72 lost their lives.

All measures were taken to raise funds. One was to print a telephone directory for the residents, including a street directory and information concerning Saint-Lambert’s many organizations. Local businesses and stores paid to advertise. It was published for five years and sold to the public for 25 cents a copy. Money was raised in other ways as well and kept in a separate fund entitled The Saint Lambert Women’s Club Library Fund. Unfortunately, the project was abandoned some time after the completion of Mrs. Cormier’s two-year term of office. The money raised was given back to the community and used to buy chairs for the Youth Center.

In October 1949, The Saint Lambert Women’s Club members, still in favour of a library, formed a separate organization. The Saint Lambert Memorial Library Association. Fundraising activities were organized: Teas, Buy a brick for the Library, and rummage sales frequently held in the Fire Hall were among the most successful. It took five years to finally raise the $20,000 needed and a vacant lot at 510 Mercille Avenue was donated by the City.

A Dream Come True

On August 5, 1954, the Library opened with one librarian and three volunteer assistants. Donations of new and used books in addition to a grant from the City brought the number of volumes to a target of 5000. Expenses were covered from a monthly fee of 10 cents a person, fines of 1 to 3 cents per day for overdue books, monthly rummage sales, teas and in addition, a small grant from the City. In 1964, the City purchased the building for $1.00 then built an annex doubling the size of the Library. In 1975, the Library earned the distinction of having the highest number of borrowers and the lowest library budget per capita of any library in the province. In 1977, the City acquired a much larger building at 490 Mercille Avenue from the provincial government. It was renovated and transformed into a modern and efficient library, now with a chief librarian, a secretary and twelve assistants and nearly 60,000 volumes.

Twenty years later, the Library needed to be refurbished once more. Saint-Lambert citizens got involved and with Guy Boissy established, “The Friends of the Library Foundation”; its first objective is to raise funds, a colossal undertaking. The Library, over 60% of its original size and dramatically renovated was inaugurated in the fall of 1999.

Saint Lambert citizens can be thankful to those who, one day in 1946, had the presence of mind to build a library. The many donors, patrons and volunteers and staff have contributed without a doubt to its great success.

To this day, numerous activities take place such as book clubs, creative meetings, children’s activities and many more.

What is more important in a library than anything else is that it exists.

Archibald MacLeish, American poet

The only thing you absolutely have to know is the location of the library.

Albert Einstein