And the SRC Community Story Award winner is….

We are delighted to announce that Beverley Rintoul of Rossland Public Library is the winner of the first ever BC SRC Community Story Award!

BCLA, in partnership with RBC, introduced the SRC Community Story Award at the 2013 BCLA Conference. Each year, the BC Summer Reading Club will present this award to an individual whose story best demonstrates the impact of the SRC within their community.

We received some wonderful submissions this year, but we think you’ll agree that Beverley’s story perfectly captures the not only the deep impact of the SRC program, but also the commitment and care that library workers bring to their communities.

Beverley will attend this year’s BCLA Conference as a guest of RBC. She’ll also be joining us at the SRC booth. Please come by and say hello, and congratulate her! Beverley will be formally presented with the SRC Community Story Award at the BCLA AGM on May 2, 2014.

About Beverley Rintoul

Beverley Rintoul started as a volunteer at RPL 18 years ago. Two years later she was hired as part-time staff, and then last fall, became Director. A Girl Guide and early childhood educator, this lifelong Kootenay-resident has been married to the same guy for 34 years. They have three adult children, and one grandchild on the way.

They are a reading family and Beverley’s favourite authors include Bill Bryson, Michael Wood, Terry Pratchett, Jane Austen, and Shakespeare. She spends much of her free time keeping her almost 90 year-old mum in books.

Here’s Beverley’s description of the SRC in Rossland: “It’s a big deal here — 120 kids in a community of 3500. I love working with the students we hire and playing with the kids who attend. Given the ECE and Girl Guide background, I find planning programs easy and usually have more ideas than we can use in a summer. It’s such a joy to find a book or theme or activity that makes a child light up.”

The 2014 SRC Community Story Award Winner

All Summer by Beverley Rintoul

“All summer we had a delightful 8 year-old boy attend the Summer Reading Club. He came every time, took part in every thing, helped with clean-up and almost cried when told our student was going back to university.

However, he struggled to read. We spent time finding books that were interesting but not difficult to read. And still he struggled.

Last week I ran into his mum and we talked about what fun he’d had. She said she was frustrated by the lack of improvement in his reading until the day before, when suddenly, out of a clear blue sky, he read recipe instructions to his dad without stumbling or stopping to sound out words.

She believes it was because we spent the time, making him believe that there were books out there for him.”