Join us for our August meeting of the New West City Reads Online!

We know that many of you prefer to read your eBooks in Overdrive. We’ve heard you and we are thrilled to make our August book (no meeting in July) available through Overdrive.

Please vote on the possible selections for our next meeting. Because they are eBooks, we are thrilled that we can offer some brand new titles (no need to wait for paperbacks).

Without further ado, here are the five potential books for our August meeting. Click through the links to read more about each title.

1. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

“Poet Ocean Vuong’s debut novel is a sweeping and shattering portrait of a family, and a testament to the redemptive power of storytelling. At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, it is also a brutally honest exploration of race, class, and masculinity”

2. Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswall

“A lively, sexy, and thought-provoking East-meets-West story about community, friendship, and women’s lives at all ages.”

3. Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

This novel “explores the ways an unplanned pregnancy changes two families. Woodson’s nuanced voice evokes the complexities of race, class, religion, and sexuality in fluid prose and a series of telling details. This is a wise, powerful, and compassionate novel.”

4. Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

“A thrilling, profoundly moving, and utterly unique retelling of the legend of Achilles and the Trojan War. A tale of gods, kings, immortal fame, and the human heart, The Song of Achilles is a dazzling literary feat that brilliantly reimagines Homer’s enduring masterwork, The Iliad.”

5. The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett

“The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it’s not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it’s everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities.”

Click here to vote on August’s title!

WINNING BOOK WILL BE ANNOUNCED JULY 6th.

ZOOM MEETING WILL BE ON August 20 AT 7:00 AND August 21 AT 10:30.

To take part in the meeting, you must register by emailing AskUs@nwpl.ca . Please indicate your name, and which session you would like to register for. When you register you’ll also gain access to the eBook. We will purchase copies depending on registration numbers, so please register early.

If you need help accessing Overdrive (also known as Library2Go or Libby), please drop us a line by email (AskUs@nwpl.ca) or phone (604-527-4660). We’ll be happy to assist you!

Happy reading!

The New Westminster Public Library will be continuing the gradual reintroduction of services throughout the remainder of 2020. This will be guided first and foremost with the safety of staff and residents as a top priority. The gradual reintroduction of services are specifically being guided by New Westminster City Council and Public Library Board priorities, while also informed by BC’s Restart Plan, WorkSafe BC Regulations, and with consideration for the regional Public Library sector as a whole.

In May the library was successfully able to expand Wi-Fi access to its outdoor plaza, launch its Library Takeout service and continue work to move a number of programs online. The library is now concentrating on the restart of general circulation activity with the opening of the book return at the Uptown Main Branch in early June. The regular holds service will then be reactivated shortly after, which will also be managed using the appointment-based Library Takeout service.

As materials are returned customers will notice their accounts will not be updated for up to a week, until those materials come out of a mandatory 72-hour quarantine. The library will continue to waive any and all fines related to overdue materials for the foreseeable future as a result.

Library staff continue to return from a number of COVID-19 related assignments throughout the City, and are acquainting themselves with the systems and procedures necessary to safely handle and move various types of material that will once again be circulating. Staff are also working to develop procedures that will allow customers to return to the library for in-person services, with library hours initially taking place Tuesday to Saturday, and expanding thereafter.

Restarting services at Queensborough will be dependent on the reopening of the Queensborough Community Centre, something Parks and Recreation staff are working hard to consider in line with their own safety requirements and directives.

While in-person programs and access to meeting rooms will remain suspended for the foreseeable future at both branches, the following is a general outline of proposed service re-introductions planned to take place throughout the remainder of the year.

June – July

• Book return at the Main Branch opens June 9
• Summer Reading Club 2020 launched June 16
• Appointment-based holds service reactivated via Library takeout June 16
• Online technology demos and coaching launch June 16
• Plexiglass and other protective safety measures installed
• Online programs for children and teens continue
• Library Takeout service continues

August – September

• Technology Device loans reactivated (chromebooks, ereaders etc.)
• Appointment-based access to the Main Branch introduced (ex. children’s picture book room, information services, study space, and internet computers)
• Online adult, teen and children’s programming continue
• Library Takeout service continues

Fall, 2020

• Access opened to both the Main and Queensborough branches
• Online  programs continue to expand
• Library Takeout service continues

It’s our sincere hope that we can increasingly welcome customers back into the various spaces and services at the library as the year unfolds. This of course will be dependent on the status of COVID-19 through time, staff availability and our ability to resource the planned reintroduction of services through time.

Questions can be forwarded to us via our email address AskUs@nwpl.ca or by phone, Tuesday to Saturday 604-527-4666.

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

The New Westminster Public Library is thrilled to announce the launch of its ‘Library Takeout’ service. Orders will begin being processed Wednesday, May 13^th, with first pick-ups scheduled for Wednesday, May 20^th.  As has been the case with a number of restaurants, library users will be able to submit an order for any combination of up to 10 books, DVD’s and CD’s, and arrange for a pre-scheduled, touchless pick-up at the library’s Main Branch.

“We’ve all missed the chance to access a number of services, but there is nothing like access to new reading, listening and viewing material from the library” says Naomi Perks, Chair of the New Westminster Library Board.  Now that Dr. Henry is guiding the province into Phase 2 of BC’s response to COVID-19, the library is ready to do its part to gradually introduce services as we continue to manage restrictions imposed by the pandemic.

‘We’re going to do this responsibly, first allowing customers to place orders for items already available and pick them up. We want to make sure our procedures are safe, for staff and the community” adds Perks. After the first couple of weeks, the library will then move to open its bookdrop so that materials can be returned, quarantined and then recirculated in as safe a manner as possible. Information and details about the service are available on the library’s website at www.nwpl.ca/takeout.

Since its closure most library staff have been redeployed to a number of the Emergency Pandemic Task Forces set up throughout the City of New Westminster. The Pandemic is still very much here and recalling staff for any new service is contingent on the City being able to ensure it is able to staff the Task Forces properly.

Library staff have also been working to initiate the transition of some programs online with an online book club, storytimes, and the upcoming Summer Reading program set to begin in June. “We are all on a learning curve, and the staff have quickly made the pivot to online platforms as a means of connecting with and providing library services to staff” notes Perks.

New Westminster Public Library will join other Lower Mainland libraries that have also recently announced a takeout service, including the Coquitlam and the North Shore libraries.

For more information about NWPL library Takeout or the New Westminster Public Library please contact Susan Buss at sbuss@nwpl.ca.