About Us

Libraries: For People

While we love books, our library is here to connect you with what you need, whether that's with new friends, ideas, information, stories, or more!  We're here to serve YOU.  

Our Mission 

"To engage, stimulate, and connect the community by providing access to resources, tools, and opportunities."

Serving you is important to us, and to do that well, we need to know what you want.  Every 3 years our library asks the people of Peace River "What's important to you?"  Through surveys and focus groups, we ask questions to help us determine what services we need to create, what we can improve upon, and what good things we need to keep doing.  Using the input we get from people like you, our staff and board co-create our Plan of Service, with goals to help us serve you better. 

Our current Plan of Service highlights three service responses for us to improve.

1. Stimulate Imagination: Reading, Viewing and Listening for Pleasure.
2. Visit a Comfortable Place: Physical & Virtual Spaces
3. Be an Informed Citizen: Local, National, and World Affairs

To view our 2019-2021 Plan of Service, see the attachment below.

Our Services

Programs

Our library hosts popular programs almost every day, for free!  Whether you're looking to meet new people, learn a new game, or want to make art, we're sure to have something you'll enjoy.  You can also try new things by borrowing our in-house board games, or checking our our Maker Stations, including LEGO, Botley Robot, a sewing machine, and even a button press.

Kids

Our library has a children's area for your little ones to explore and fall in love with reading.  We also offer children's programs like Story Time, After School Club, and Nerf Wars. 

Collections

Our library has over 30 000 materials for you to borrow, including DVDs, audio-books, learning kits, magazines, and you guessed it, we still have a lot of books too.  

Public Computers & WiFi

We have 8 public computer stations to help you connect with the world for free.  We also have free WiFi so you can enjoy your own devices in our many comfortable seating spaces.  We also offer printing and scanning services.

Free Gathering Spaces

One of the best things about our library is our many gathering spaces.  If you have a group that needs a free place to meet, you could choose to be surrounded by beautiful art in our gallery.  You could enjoy lounge seating beside our fireplace, or book our board table for your next meeting.

Rental Spaces

If you need a little more than a place to sit, you can rent our PennWest Room.  This room offers table seating for up to 25, theatre seating for 40, and includes a white board, projector screen, and kitchen.  
 

Our Activity

"How busy can a library be?" you ask.  Very.  Our library received over 46 000 visits in 2018, and that's not including over 9 000 visits to our online spaces. 

 Summary of our program sessions and attendance.

Summary of our circulation of materials.

Governance and Staff

Our library is governed by the Town of Peace River Library Board, a volunteer board of up to 11 members, including a member of Peace River Town Council.  This board develops and oversees the policies that make up the rules and procedures for the library, and oversees the Library management.  To request to see the Library policies, see below or visit our Circulation Desk.

It takes people to make it all happen, and our library currently has a wonderful staff of 10 people, including both full and part-time positions.  These friendly and talented folks do everything from ordering books and processing new arrivals, to greeting patrons, renewing materials, and answering the many reference questions we get (we those count to questions, by the way, and last year we helped answer over 8000). They also plan and run our many programs and help us keep the building clean and tidy.