Summer in Canada is short – typically three blessed months of blue skies and sunshine. After a long, dreary winter, Canadians are ready to celebrate, and summer is chock-full of special days and events.
This weekend we celebrated Multicultural Day with a special event at the library. We had musicians from Guatemala, an exhibit of traditional clothes from Nepal, folk dancers from El Salvador and Bulgaria, a fashion show of modern First Nations fashion, a local chamber choir, an a presentation of folk stories in Salish, Swahili, Farsi, Gaelic and English!
Throughout the library atrium different groups set up tables showcasing their cultural backgrounds, including Wales, Finland, Nepal, and more.
As the host of the event, the library put together a little display showcasing some of the ways we celebrate multiculturalism.
For the children’s display I gathered a few picture books from our multilingual collection, to showcase the diversity of our collection.
Unfortunately people sometimes think that the library only carries English material, and don’t realize that we actually offer materials in 10+ different language across the system!
It was exciting to see people’s eyes light up as they recognized their native language displayed on the table.
We also made sure to showcase the diversity of programs and services available at the library – we’re more than just books, you know! This might be a little out of date, though – I can’t think of the last time we had fax reference questions….
It was a blazing hot day, and the library atrium can be uncomfortably reminiscent of a hot house, but it was still a great day at the library.
