Standard stands out with library award

Miriam Ostermann
Times Associate Editor

 

Three years ago, Adreena Harder and her family relocated to Standard where the opportunity arose to tread in unchartered waters and embark upon a compelling challenge – one she took by storm and that awarded her the Marigold Making a Difference award.
Before taking over the Standard Municipal Library in 2012, Harder’s expertise remained predominantly with managing restaurants. Since taking over the library, her fervour and determination have turned the library into a hub within the community, and raised the number of programs to 113 from 36 over three years. While many libraries rely on resources and staff to offer programming, Harder is a one-woman show – running nearly all the programs by herself. It was her hard work and constant efforts that caught the eye of the Marigold Library System who proceeded to present her with the award for excellence and service.
“Adreena is a star among stars in the Marigold constellation,” said Michelle Toombs, CEO of the Marigold Library System. “We do it mainly to recognize that there’s a lot of excellent things happening and I believe that programming is really a fundamental core activity in public libraries. Not only are they important to bring people into the library and allow them to interact, but people expect libraries to have programs. So it’s a good news story all the way around.”
Marigold’s Making a Difference award is now in its fourth year and is presented to libraries showing excellence in areas of programming, outreach, advocacy, public relations, partnerships, and innovative use of video conferencing.
Harder was blown away by the statistics that prove an impressive feat for the 115-patron strong library. Although the library only offered 36 programs annually with 366 participants in attendance in 2012, the number doubled the following year, and reached an astounding 113 programs offered to 1,025 community members.
“This is absolutely amazing, and it was so nice to be honoured and recognized for the efforts that I put in every day, every week, every month,” said Harder, library manager in Standard. “Basically it’s just myself. With the 113 programs there was probably maybe 10 programs that I facilitated that were run by other people. I just enjoy it and I have a lot of fun.”
With a sewing machine, board games, a Wii, blue-ray player, and a ping pong table, the 379 people in Standard were able to benefit from an array of programs including Movie Matinee, Sew Cool Club, Minute 2 Win It, Wii and Board Games Day, Story & Crafty Hour, and the Get Sparkled Club.
The Town of Three Hills, who won the award for the category of community benefits, was one of two recipients awareded with a plaque and a $500 contribution on May 13.
As couldn’t be more fitting, Harder plans to allocate the winnings back into reusable programming.