Pat Morris Communities Matter Initiative
Learn. Connect. Flourish.
The Pat Morris
Communities Matter Initiative
We are delighted to unveil the Pat Morris Communities Matter Initiative. Honoring the late Pat Morris, this new initiative celebrates her love of ideas and learning and the dialectic and tutelage that emerges between reading and living. Her commitment to service and community creation, have inspired us to focus the Communities Matter initiative toward supporting what we believe is the life-force of small communities: libraries. Through their collections, programming, and dedicated people, libraries in small communities bring people together to learn, to reflect, to imagine, and to connect. They allow us to grow in ways un-imagined and provide refuge in times of need. They open the door to the world of ideas, allowing us to converse with history and debate our future. They support our dreams, open our minds, and give us strength with which to venture into the world.
It is with humility and gratitude to all that libraries offer communities, that we dedicate this initiative to helping support their programming, extend their collections or support their outreach.
Communities Matter
Library Support Grant for Small Communities
Who Can Apply?
Any small Canadian community library serving a population of 10,000 or less that is registered as a “Qualified Donee” under the Canada Revenue Agency is eligible to apply.
What is Eligible?
Grant requests (typically of no greater than $10,000) will be considered for one or more of the following:
- library acquisitions including physical collections, on-line or digital resources;
- public literary events, literacy initiatives, book clubs, etc.;
- workshops, presentations, guest speakers, etc.
- programming (general or that targeted to groups such as seniors, teens, children, new community members, etc.);
- outreach initiatives to enable the library to further its impact in and beyond the community;
- other specific initiatives may be considered on a case-by-case basis.
A Showcase of Library Support Grant Recipients
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Local History Collection Enhancement Project
The Hazelton Public Library in Hazelton, British Columbia, will create a small document digitization centre in its library and obtain historical texts, maps, and recordings to preserve and protect items in the community’s local history collection.
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Books for a Brighter Future
The Village of Carbon Public Library in Carbon, Alberta will add new books to support its summer reading program and award winning “Creating Young Authors” initiative which promotes writing, literacy, and growth of imagination for children in their community.
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Student Take Home Kits
The Upper Miramichi Community School Library in Upper Miramichi, New Brunswick, will continue to create take home craft and project kits for young children and students.
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Accessibility for All Ages
The Trent Lakes Public Library in Trent Lakes, Ontario is working to expand and enhance accessible materials to better serve the needs of the community, especially its vibrant senior population. The grant will be used to acquire large print, eBooks and audio books, particularly those by Canadian authors or with Canadian content.
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Homesteading Workshop Series
Ever wonder how to grow your own food, spin your own yarn, or raise your own chickens? What about lumber–interested in learning how it is milled, or how to safely wield a chainsaw? The Sussex Regional Library, located in an agriculturally rich community, will work with small business owners and local homesteading experts to host […]
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Digitizing History With Microfilm
The St. Croix Public Library in St. Stephen, New Brunswick, will use its grant supported new Microfilm Machine to offer public access to a microfilm collection of local newspapers, cemetery and census records, and more. These documents bring many community members, historians, and inquiries from across North America into our small library, and we are […]
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Resources for Growth
The Meadow Lake Library in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan, will be updating and enhancing its print collection of personal development resources, including fiction and non-fiction titles in the areas of mental health, learning disabilities, illiteracy, and self-advocacy.
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Crafting, Recipes and More
Marmora and Lake Public Lake in Marmora Ontario will invest in Creativebug and use it as a launching point for developing new monthly programs for adults, teens children and seniors in their community.
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I Create
The Gananoque Public Library in Gananoque, Ontario has created a new library initiative that is designed to enrich cultural and creative life in Gananoque and the 1000 Islands. I Create will offer access to Creativebug.com online arts and crafts workshops, STEAM kits for all ages, author, illustrator and story teller visits throughout the year.
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Young Reader’s Choice Campaign 2021-2022
The Didsbury Municipal Library in Didsbury, Alberta, will use its grant to develop and expand its participation in the Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader’s Choice Award. Through the purchase of nominated books and librarian school presentations, the Didsbury Municipal Library will work to help inspire a love of reading and critical thinking in their […]
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Family Literacy Bags bring Learning And Playing Home
Debden Wapiti Library in Debden, Saskatchewan, is creating Family Literacy Bags to help bring families together during the pandemic. Filled with crafts, playtime materials, and books, the Family Literacy Bags target topics such as empathy, kindness, relationships, friendships and teamwork.
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Bibliotheraphy
The Bibliotheque du centenaire in Campbelton, New Brunswick, will work with school boards, seniors homes and community mental health organizations to develop a collection of books dealing with subjects such as anxiety, self-esteem, bereavement, stress … in order to have at hand a “pharmacy” of books to serve the mental health of its community.
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Saving a Library
The Monteregie East Partnership for the English-speaking Community has worked to save a local library. Once hosted at the elementary school which required the library space to respond to new social distancing practices to keep students safe, the MEPEC saw an opportunity to relocate the library resources and add new programming to increase accessibility to […]
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Future Writers of History
Siglunes District Library “Future Writers of History” project is an initiative to develop not only an interest in local history but an interest also in the expansion and preservation of its current written records. The Library will feature local authors and show and inspire another generation to tell the stories of themselves, their children, and […]
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Reading Club with a Twist
The Shellbrook Public Library “Summer Reading club” encourages reading, language, art and community. THe Pat Morris Communities Matter Grant will be used to expand and enhance the current Reading Club to include preschool children, families, and teens. It will also diversify programming beyond books, providing opportunities for art, drama and music. In addition, new acquisitions […]
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Canadian Books and Authors Initiative
The Nanoose Library Centre on Vancouver Island will be developing its collection of books by Canadian authors and those with rich Canadian content. Oh Canada!
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Literacy Across Mackenzie: A Health Partnership
The Mackenzie Library will further invigorate its partnership with the local public health unit. The health unit currently lends book bags filled with ten picture books and board books appropriate for infants and children up to age one. As incentive for the program, parents receive free, one new book every time they return a book […]
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Collection Diversification & Development
The Carstairs Public Library will be diversifying and further developing its collection through the addition of new print/dvd materials targeted to diversifying its collections to support materials acquisitions dedicated to men, LGBTQ+, minority perspectives and Indigenous knowledge. So important to have materials appealing to all members of our distinct and diverse communities.
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Teen Makerspace
The Asphodel-Norwood Public Library in Ontario plans to create a “Teen Makerspace” and provide youth from its small, rural community with the ability to explore a variety of tools and equipment to foster their creativity, inspire collaboration, support their education, and develop relevant skills. Not only is it the Library’s goal to provide programming which […]
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Creating Cognitive Care Kits
Stettler Public Library is creating a small collection of early development and cognitive care grab and go kits aimed towards two target audiences: parents of young children (including children with autistic spectrum disorders) and caregivers of adults in the early to middle stages of Alzheimer’s disease and/or dementia. The kits will pair books with equipment, […]
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Increasing Accessibility and Reaching out to the Filipino Community
The Lakeland Regional Library will use its’ Pat Morris Communities Matter grant to stay responsive to its changing community. The grant will be directed towards we increasing its Large Print and Audio collections as well as adding books in Tagalog for its children’s section to support the growing number of residents with Filipino origins or connections.
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Seniors Write Stories for Children
In response to the seniors in their community, the Hemmingford Community Library has created an exciting new program to engage seniors, unleash their creativity and connect them with other generations. The “Seniors Write Stories for Children” initiative will provide seniors with lessons on children’s story writing and will then mentor them to write their own […]
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Mental Health Awareness
The Tofield Municipal Library will develop a physical collection of materials for mental health awareness. This collection will include resources on wellness, suicide, stress,compassion, and grief. The collection will include materials for all ages and reading levels. In addition, the Library will host a series of speaker presentations (once the collection is in place) to […]
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Expanding Accessibility for Seniors
The Augusta Township Public Library will improve access to materials and technology for its senior residents, many of whom face challenges with limited income, declining vision and social isolation. The grant will help the library improve its large print collection and provide programming to introduce seniors to devices such as tablets and e-readers, or improve […]
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Reading with Royalty
The Didsbury Public Library will offer a family friendly Reading with Royalty program with the aim of increasing LGBTQIA awareness and celebrating inclusion and diversity. In partnership with Calgary Pride and the Calgary Queer Arts Society, the Library will host a family-friendly story time program, led by drag queen/king performers. This program helps children develop […]
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Creative Hands Create Community
The Erickson District Library (Erickson, Manitoba) have created an amazing Creative Hands Create Community project which brings an Artist in Residence into the library on a weekly basis to deliver arts and crafts programming for children. The craft projects will use a combination of purchased and nature-found objects to stimulate the creative imagination.
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Musical Instrument Lending Library
With no close access to music stores, the Lac La Biche Library will develop a Musical Instrument Lending Library to allow community members to borrow an instrument and bring music into their life. The new library will feature a wide range of instruments ranging from violins to xylophones, guitars to keyboards. We can’t wait to hear […]
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Athens – A Place for All
Ensuring that reading and library collections remain accessible to all in their community, especially seniors, the Athens Public Library program – A Place for All – will see the addition of new large print and audio materials to their collections.
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1000 Books Before Kindergarten
The Tisdale Community Library will be delivering the amazing “1000 Books Before Kindergarten” program. The free early literacy program encourages parents and caregivers to read 1000 books with their children before they start kindergarten. Through this program the Library wants to expose our children to a variety of stories and vocabulary to open their minds […]
Thank you to the Kimberley Foundation for their funding toward our Summer Programming. The Kimberley Grant allowed us to connect with our community and provide a quality program for more than 80 children. To small town libraries that depend on grants and donations for their programming, this grant is an amazing asset. – Dian Campbell, Branch Librarian, Shellbrook Public Library
The Pat Morris Communities Matter Initiative allowed us to significantly expand our eBook collection during the pandemic, and provide many homebound patrons in our community with access to materials during an unprecedented time. In a difficult year, it also helped us celebrate inclusion, diversity, and joy with a family-friendly storytime program, led by drag queen/king performers. None of this would have been possible with the support of this initiative and we are extremely grateful for funding that recognizes the important role libraries play in small communities. We might be small, but we can have an incredible impact on people’s lives and that was made possible through this grant. Thank you!. – Monique Fiedler, Library Manager, Didsbury Municipal Library
Thanks to the Kimberley Foundation’s Pat Morris Communities Matter Grant our library was able to add 150 items to our collection featuring diverse voices and experiences. This allowed our library to ensure that we have materials by BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ creators that make sure their experiences and voices are heard. Small town libraries often have small budgets and are forced to prioritize popular authors to meet community demand so over time our collections can be missing many experiences and voices that deserve to be heard. For our community this grant ensured our library has materials that allow all of us to listen to and explore diverse perspectives on the world. This allows our library to be more welcoming and inclusive. Thank you for believing in our library and helping us be a better community resource. – Megan Ginther, Library Manager, Carstairs Public Library
Music is a proven means of not only engendering a love of music and related skills but also reinforces and builds mathematical skill sets. In a small rural community this kind of access is such a boost to so many families.. – Maureen Penn, Library Director, Lac La Biche Public Library