The new Interlakes Library officially opened on March 24 with roughly 35 people attending.
“Residents have waited a long time for this library and have been without a library a long time since the Bridge Lake School closed,” said Margo Wagner, chair of the Cariboo Regional District (CRD). “I’m just happy that the building is finally open and the residents of the area have their library back.”
The previous library, according to Wagner, was well used and was inside the school which was closed in 2016 by School District 27 and she believed there was a need for a library in the area.
“I’m glad for the residents because a lot of them rely on libraries for audiobooks, e-books, that type of thing and to have to go into 100 Mile each time, even if they’re there to shop, people who live in rural areas may only go into town every two or three times every two or three weeks. They probably go through more books than that,” said Wagner.
She also added she wasn’t worried about people going to the library, saying internet in rural areas can sometimes be slow and frustrating and many seniors don’t have internet at home and they would use the computers at the new library.
Wagner also said the CRD has seen an increase in internet use in all their library locations.
Located at Levick Crescent, the library’s installation faced construction delays due to the fire and only began in the middle of October of 2017. The building is modular, making it quicker for building and was manufactured by Kamloops-based Horizon North. All future CRD stand-alone rural libraries will be the same design.
“Overall, I know there was some frustration with the length of time it was going to take to get this library open and going, unfortunately, we had some delays because of the wildfires but now it’s here,” said Wagner.
The only thing left to be added to the building was a book drop.