The newly formed Champions of the Grande Prairie Public Library Society is hosting its first membership drive at the Grande Prairie Public Library Saturday, January 15 between 12 p.m. and 5 p.m.

The Champions are a new non-profit society created for the purposes of promoting the excellent services and advocating for support for the library in the community. Champions members will be at the library to sign up those interested in becoming members and supporting the library in our fundraising and advocacy efforts.

“High-quality library services build strong and resilient communities and that is needed now more than ever. Grande Prairie Public Library is the one place in the community that is open to everyone to find lifelong learning opportunities, grow the economy and find recreation,” said Mark Evans, President of the Champions of the Grande Prairie Public Library Society.

The Champions are a group of community builders who know that the library has an incredible staff who provide great service to the community. However, we also know that even though their usage statistics are comparable to other mid-sized cities in the province, their funding levels unfortunately aren’t. Library users in cities such as Red Deer, Airdrie and Medicine Hat have access to things that GPPL might struggle to provide at the current levels.

The other challenge the Champions aims to address is the outdated perception that Libraries are simply a place for books. The books are still there but the best libraries long ago moved into new programming, collections and new services that build and bring together community.

“We invite anyone interested in building our great community to come join and contribute in any way they can to help us champion excellence in library service for Grande Prairie and area residents,” said Mark.