Category: Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia’s schools are warning parents of a potential strike by support staff later this month that could significantly impact some students.

The province’s regional centres for education and the Conseil scolaire acadien provincial have been in contract negotiations with the Canadian Union of Public Employees for several months.

The union represents 5,500 workers including early childhood educators in the pre-primary program, educational program assistants and teaching assistants, bus drivers, librarians, janitors, cafeteria workers, African Nova Scotian and Mi’kmaw student support workers, and others.

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Kings Theatre is finding a creative way to fundraise for their local library.

They’re hosting a showing of Shrek, with a live donkey in attendance.

“The community is very excited and it doesn’t hurt that we’re having a live donkey on site,” said Kings Theatre Executive Director Janet Larkman.

Continue reading “Nova Scotia: “We want to send a message to the provincial government,” says library fundraiser organizer” →

Geoff Ball’s arrest video is shocking. From a small crowd of protesters, the eighty-year-old is grabbed by two young Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers. Struggling to walk—Ball is blind in one eye and suffers from the effects of two heart attacks—he’s taken to a wall and slammed face first into the brick before being handcuffed. Shortly afterward, according to Ball, he’s dumped roughly into the back of a police car and sent to the station to be reprimanded. Everything happens in the space of a few minutes, turning an ordinary act of civic participation into a hellish ordeal.

Ball lives outside Canning, a tight-knit community in Nova Scotia’s lush Annapolis Valley. The largely agricultural landscape has recently become ground zero in the fight against cuts to Nova Scotia’s cultural sector. Persistent provincial underfunding forced the Annapolis Valley Regional Library system to announce plans earlier this year to permanently close five of its eleven libraries, including the busy Port Williams branch close to Ball’s home. (The Village of Lawrencetown’s library withdrew from the system prior to the closures.)

Continue reading “Nova Scotia: Nova Scotia Shut Down Libraries. Then Things Got Ugly” →

Book publishers across Nova Scotia say provincial funding cuts are creating a “domino effect” across the industry.

During Question Period on Sept. 15, Krista Gallagher, MLA for Halifax-Chebucto, raised concerns on behalf of publishers who say the province’s decision to include the Publishers Assistance Fund will result in fewer books being released, which could significantly affect their eligibility for federal funding.

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Library workers and stakeholders will be gathering in Pictou this weekend to explore emerging trends, share innovative approaches, and celebrate the vital role libraries play in the health and well-being of communities across the province.

The Nova Scotia Library Association’s annual conference is being hosted by the Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library from Sept. 18-20 at the deCoste Culture Hub. The association welcomes membership from anyone interested in library service.

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Thanks to a fundraiser featuring a bestselling Nova Scotian author, doors to all Annapolis Valley Regional Library branches may remain open beyond the end of the fiscal year.

Rachel Reid is one of Canada’s most celebrated contemporary romance writers. She is the New York Times bestselling author of The Game Changers series, which has been adapted into the smash hit TV series Heated Rivalry.

When asked why it was important to her to help keep the regional library’s doors open with a recent $300,000 donation and the Sept. 12 fundraising event in Wolfville, Reid said it’s because she has the ability to help and “I have been very, very blessed this year.”

Continue reading “Nova Scotia: ‘I call her a superhero’: Residents appreciate Rachel Reid’s fundraiser for Annapolis Valley libraries” →

Nova Scotia author Rachel Reid has donated $300,000 to the Annapolis Valley Regional Library after hearing five branches were set to permanently shutter.

“I had to do it because I don’t know what the point is of being a successful author in Nova Scotia if you’re not going to use it for good,” Reid told CBC News in an interview Monday.

Continue reading “Nova Scotia: Heated Rivalry author donates $300K to 5 rural libraries facing closure” →

Members of the Lawrencetown village commission realize it’s an ambitious project, but the community has the volunteers and talent needed to operate an independent library.

Vice-chairperson Jane Baskwill said that when commissioners first saw a report from the Annapolis Valley Regional Library (AVRL) board in January requesting increased funding from municipalities to avoid potential closures, they noted the Dr. Frank W. Morse Memorial Library in Lawrencetown had the lowest circulation rate of the 11 regional library branches.

Baskwill said they realized if this metric were to be used to determine which branches would remain open, they would have a difficult time increasing circulation given their hours of operation as a regional library branch and a general lack of programming being offered.

Continue reading “Nova Scotia: Lawrencetown prepares to build collection, operate independent library” →