Write to Read BC

Tag: libraries

  • Design response team to Kyuquot

    Write to Read BC’s design response team visited Kyuquot on northwest Vancouver Island. This visit had to take place when the weather was good, as the road from Campbell River to Fair Harbour ferry is busy with logging trucks, and feels safer when dry. They were received by a band committee including Chief Peter Hanson, committee member Daisy Hanson, band administrator Cynthia Blackstone, project coordinator Russell Hanson, and others.

    View of Kyquot village when arriving by ferry.
    A view of Kyquot village when arriving by ferry from Fair Harbour.

    The Write to Read BC team included co-lead Bob Blacker, architect Scott Kemp, architect intern Kelly Bapty, mechanical engineer Mike Herrold, structural engineer Melissa Kindratsky, big log builder Steve Lawrence, filmmaker Michael McCarthy, financial guru Lawrence Lewis, and master carver Moi Sutherland. During the visit, they stayed with Susan Plensky and her husband Skip.

    Together, the visitors and band committee started the planning process for a library. This concept quickly grew into a community centre that contains a library—in a building that will be built onsite rather than prebuilt and shipped there.

    This ambitious work was named The Big Project.

    Kyquot village.
    A tidal dock that leads up to a reinforced seawall in Kyquot village.

    The visitors and band committee of residents toured the village, and together decided the original site for the planned library was too close to sea level and at threat from any tsunami. To find an alternative site, the entire team hiked up the hill past the school to the site of a planned neighbourhood. The engineers wanted an up-close inspection, so the entire team bushwhacked into rarely-visited forest, where the biomass underneath was 3 m deep. This is the site they found.

    Site of the future Big Project, uphill from Kyquot village.
    Site of the future Big Project, uphill from Kyquot village.

    Steve Lawrence, a big log builder, announced the site was perfect to harvest the timber needed for the community centre. The village will install a mill on the site, to cut the logs themselves. The community will also consider getting involved in the construction, which removes the need to bring in, house, feed, and pay a full construction crew for the length of the project.

    Community involvement

    The band committee heard that the entire village must be actively involved in planning and fundraising from the very beginning of the project. If the village does not pledge enough support and primary funding, The Big Project will not proceed. Fundraising will require a wide variety of events, grants, and donations from the public and businesses.

    Financial planner Lawrence Lewis explained the costs in detail. The scope and success of the project depends on how much the community gets involved. Hiring an outside construction crew is not part of the estimate, which is why the village needs to consider taking on that work.

    The band committee and Write to Read BC volunteers in Kyquot village.
    Working together: the band committee and Write to Read BC’s design resposne team in Kyquot village.

    Design and construction

    The Write to Read BC volunteers left the village of Kyuquot satisfied the band has the skills and experience to take on The Big Project. The design response team prepared and published a draft design of a community centre that has a library with Internet connections for its learning centre, a kitchen, meeting rooms for elders and youth, a museum, a gymnasium, and a day care centre.

    After it’s revised and agreed, the design will be handed to Write to Read BC’s construction response team and library response team for the next stages of the project.

  • Glen Vowell library hopeful

    This community of Glenn Vowell was first in contact with Write to Read BC last year. When a member of our design response team has spoke with the community’s education coordinator, Barb McRae, she quickly realised the next step is to arrange a visit to visit the community.

    Glen Vowell is located inland from BC’s coast, near Kispiox, BC.

  • Paachidaat asking for a library

    The Write to Read BC design response team wants to visit the Paachidaat community, near Port Renfrew on the BC coast. When the team visits, they’ll start discussion to develop the community’s vision for its library.

    Paachidaat territory is next to the ocean and vulnerable to any tsunami, so a proper site needs to be found for a community library.

  • Hidden costs cause Snunymuxw pivot

    Write to Read BC withdrew its interest in receiving a building from the Municipality of Oak Bay, due to hidden costs. Our construction response team immediately identified a better financial option.

    Instead, the Young Professionals of Nanaimo have decided that, for the Snunymuxw library, they will build the same solution we used for the Xeni Gwet’in library. They have already raised $25,000 towards building and met with Write to Read BC’s architect, Scott Kemp, about the design.

  • Stz’uminus school needs a library

    This BC community worked very hard to build their school, but unfortunately did not have funding for a library. Write to Read BC will visit the Stz’uminus school and meet with the principal, Tim Harris, and see what we can do.

  • Xeni Gwet’in library in costing

    Plans for a Xeni Gwet’in library are on track. This is our very first Version 4 library—one that will be built on site, rather than premade and shipped in. The library’s opening date depends on how the design and building proceed, and on funding for that to happen.

    Before we can ask the Jack Gin Foundation to support it, our construction response team will need to determine exactly how much this library will cost to build.

  • Readying Ahousaht shelves, books

    The building for the Ahousaht community library is in place, and Write to Read BC’s construction response team has visited the site to view the building.

    Our library response team is now putting together a collection of books. Furniture has to be made and delivered when the library response team sets up the library.

    The library will likely open in the fall of 2014. It’s another success story for the partnership model, which matches communities, Write to Read BC volunteers, and other partners.

  • Yekooche to improve library

    Located on Stuart Lake near Fort Saint James the Principal of the Community School Eric Di Nozi contacted Write to Read BC for assistance to regenerate their school library and make it into a community library.

    Write to Read BC visited the community in November 2015 to discuss partnership and proejct possibilities. We agreed Write to Read BC will provide shelves and books. Our library response team is putting together books, and shelving will have to be made by Nanaimo Correctional Centre.

    Two Rotary clubs will be involved. One will collect the books and computer hardware. The other will deliver the shelving and assist in putting the library together. We anticipate doing this during the summer, an optimal time for travelling to the community.

  • Windsor Plywood supplies at cost

    Write to Read BC representatives met the owner of Windsor Plywood for Vancouver Island, who agreed to supply Write to Read BC with the plywood we were looking for at cost.

    The plywood and other materials will become bookshelves that Nanaimo Correctional Centre will build for Write to Read BC projects.

    $20,000 cash donation

    Also, the owner, Randal Jones, donated $20,000 to Write to Read BC toward library construction costs.

  • Tsay Keh Dene library arrives

    In Tsay Keh Dene, the library is now onsite. Our Write to Read BC library response team visited and set up the library shelves and furniture. Next, Indigenous books will be ordered.

    Once we have the computers installed in the library we will be ready to open it.