Don’t blink or you might miss it.
That’s how some people might talk about Rimbey, a tiny rural community not much bigger than the pin stuck on a map to mark its spot.
But, the size of Rimbey is somewhat deceptive, because stuff goes on here. In fact bigger communities have nothing Rimbey doesn’t have, other than perhaps a Tim Hortons.
We have scandals, and lawsuits and break-ins and drug deals going down.
We even have our own RCMP guys to deal with all of that.
The latest news, which will once again secure our little stick pin place on the map, is an uproar about selling the town offices to the library board for $1 so the hallowed halls of reading we call our library can expand across the hallway and into the town offices.
The expansion will mean many things.
It goes without saying there will be more books and a better selection. The librarian and her staff won’t be so cramped and their working conditions will improve. There will be more programs, probably better lighting (I don’t actually know about the lighting but I’m sure it is a possibility).
But, mostly the expansion will mean the library and all the programs, events and activities it is used for, will become bigger and better.
And that has to be a good thing.
A library is important to the culture of any community. You might see favorite watering holes dotting Main Street, coffee shops strung along side streets and quaint little gift shops to lure people in.
But, it’s the library that marks the town as progressive, and solid and it is within this institution that families, blue collar workers and business suit types all are joined with a common thread — the search for knowledge or even just the search for a really good book.
It is true that the Rimbey library has taken it upon itself to hold events such as wine tasting nights and movie nights. Apparently, some people don’t like this.
However, judging by the patrons who crowd into the tiny bit of space allotted them, some seem to like it just fine.
The library could cease having these events to quell the rising storm of controversy it seems to have caused, but the fact remains, the library, as it sits now, is too small.
According to the Alberta Public Library Standards formula, the Rimbey Municipal Library should be 6,500 square feet. It is now somewhere between 2,300 and2,800 square feet.
Those are the facts.
The library, of course, could move to another location.
Or, the town could debenture borrow, perhaps secure government grants, and go out on a limb and build a new library. Perhaps they could rent the empty space left by the library to some commercial business like a movie theatre or perhaps a wine tasting type person.
Both of those ideas are unrealistic, but in all seriousness, if the library moves out, it will leave an empty space in the building and, I could be wrong, but I don’t believe there is a huge demand for commercial space in downtown Rimbey at the moment.
Council, after reviewing facts and figures, came up with the idea of selling the town offices to the library for $1. No doubt, the decision was made after weighing the pros and cons carefully. The only thing the town fathers didn’t take into consideration was the furor this decision would cause among some taxpayers.
But, it seems to have put Rimbey back on the map.
It does make one wonder, however, if people on the outside will view all this controversy in a positive way.
After all, who, even in small town Alberta, can justify not wanting to see a library expand?
— ON THE OTHER SIDE