Many Happy "Returns"

When we moved from our home in the Rural Municipality into the City of Portage la Prairie in 2002, one of the perks I discovered early was that I no longer needed to pay an annual non-resident fee for my library membership. Only two years later, the library became regional, receiving funds from the RM as well, and changed its name to Portage la Prairie Regional Library. This week, it’s celebrating 20 years as a regional library. I thought it might be fun to dig into its history and, with the help of Director Jen Kendall, I acquired more material than this post
can hold.

While some local churches kept libraries dating back to the mid-1850s, the Local Council of Women (LCW) founded the first true public lending library in 1917, with Mrs. W.W. Miller as its first Head Librarian. This operated out of a community club room. From there, the library moved into several locations including the Billy Richardson House on 3rd St. SW, the former and current City Halls, the former Bank of Montreal and Manitoba Hydro buildings, and the current Keystone Sports store.

Voters officially approved the public library on October 23, 1968. The Bylaw passed later that year, with the City Library opening in 1969. Its board began identifying potential regionalization targets, to ensure its longevity and usefulness. Having multiple municipalities buy in would mean more books on the shelves and more staff to assist patrons.

In 1974, the RM of Portage began subsidizing membership fees for their residents. This meant that RM residents paid a lower non-resident fee than people in other municipalities. Further discussions about becoming a regional library took place in 1976. It moved into its current location, 40B Royal Road North, in 1999. When regionalization finally happened five years later, the resulting increase in funding from municipalities and the Province allowed our library to keep pace with technology and add more materials to the collection.

Our longest-running Head Librarian/Director was Percy Gregoire-Voskamp, who came on staff in 1976 and served as Director from 1997 until his retirement in 2018. Over those 42 years, he witnessed many changes in location, staff, and procedures—from the old card catalog system to computerized checkouts, as well as the expansion to more services such as digital books, audiovisual materials, and internet use. Did you know that, thanks to support from Central Plains Cancer Services, you can even borrow a Radon Screening Kit from the library to test your home? Now you do.

Our library currently employs six full-time and eight part-time staff, plus several volunteers who do inventory and other collection-related tasks. They’re led by six Board members who meet six times a year, three appointed by City Council and three by the RM Council.

Not counting eBooks, audiobooks, or Interlibrary loans, our library has 60,437 items to loan out to its 7,992 members (up from 6,550 in 2004.) The most popular collection is Adult Fiction, which makes this author happy. (If I were in charge, I’d reserve a special place in Heaven for whoever invented the public library.)

In addition, the library provides meeting and study space, programs such as book clubs, crafts for all ages, and free movies. Programs are no longer required to have a literary theme. If a craft or movie is popular, they will incorporate it. Their most frequently used services by far are computers and wi-fi. After that, children’s programs, especially craft-related ones, are always popular.

Do you use our wonderful library to its fullest potential?