Atwater Library and Computer Centre

On Saturday, February 27, 2016 from 5:00 pm to 1:00 am, for Nuit blanche, we welcomed over 200 people to the Library for exciting new-media showcase events, the products of two of our community-based projects – one led by seniors and the other by youth. Eric Craven, our Digital Literacy Project Coordinator, was thrilled with the results and commented, “The night was a great success – wonderful collaborative project that was much more than the sum of its parts!”

On January 28, 2016, George Elliott Clarke gave his first public reading since being appointed Canada’s Parliamentary Poet Laureate, at the Atwater Library. He and poet Armand Garnet Ruffo shared an Atwater Poetry Project program that drew a capacity audience of over 110 people. The picture below, taken by photographer Martin C. Barry for the Westmount Independent, shows George Elliott Clarke by the podium with Armand Garnet Ruffo and others in the audience applauding him.

The Atwater Library’s 2015 Holiday Pop-Up Book Fair, featuring Quebec-published and Quebec-written books in English, was a smash success. Held in our auditorium on the last weekend of November, it attracted throngs of book lovers who made purchases, got autographs and chatted with the 50 or so authors participating. Click here for elaboration and pictures.

The Atwater Writers Exhibition (AWE) launched on our main floor in May 2015 continues to attract visitors, including school groups. The exhibition continues through 2016 and is open to the public during our regular hours.

The focus in early 2016 will be on playwrighting, literary translation, spoken word and young-adult (YA) writers.

Click here for more information about AWE – the Exhibition and the activities.

With funding from Status of Women Canada, we are partnering with schools and community groups to help girls and young women (under 25) achieve their economic potential. A highlight of the project we have been conducting for the past several months was the very successful “Girls of the Hood” conference that attracted some 100 young women to the Library on Saturday, May 17, 2014.

Organized by participating girls for girls, the conference showcased neighbourhood projects with the goal of helping girls and young women overcome barriers to economic prosperity. Mélanie Joly gave the keynote address on “Dare to be yourself” and there were panel discussions on entrepreneurial women, re-envisioning the world through activism and art, community groups fostering economic empowerment, and women in alternative or non-traditional careers.

During the conference Dawson College student Nicola Sibthorpe, our event day social media manager, “live” tweeted highlights and took snap shots for the conference’s instagram feed.

During the winter of 2014 we worked with people with memory loss to make a digital record of significant things in their life. The end product was a CD or “virtual memory box” celebrating each client’s life. The hope is that the CD will later trigger memories and stimulate conversation.

Popular computer instructor Liz Perrin is leading this exciting project with the help of volunteers. For more information, please contact her at liz@atwaterlibrary.ca.