After our first closure last March and re-opening in July, followed by another closure in December and then last week’s re-opening, we’ve become adept at rolling with the ups and downs of this pandemic.
While we all look forward to anything that smells of what life was like before all this began, significant events like a pandemic mean there will inevitably be a new type of normal. That means while patrons can come in and browse the shelves, some things will be the new normal for now – like our Zoom and pre-recorded programs.
As per the ongoing restrictions, our doors are open again with 45 people allowed into the library at a time, and we’re back to regular hours, which can be found on our website.
While we covered most of our current crop of programs in last week’s column, we’d like to feature one of our newest virtual stars this week.
Paws, Feathers, and Scales sprung to life during the pandemic and has become one of our most popular programs, thrilling our younger patrons aged six to 12, as well as their parents.
Sponsored by the Kiwanis Airdrie Foothills club, this unique program has hosted wildlife professionals, animal experts and insect experts from all over Alberta and has featured a wide variety of non-human species.
For instance, this March and April, the program will feature beekeeper Lori DuMont on March 11, insect expert Dan Johnson, a professor of environmental science at the University of Lethbridge, and bat specialist Robert Barclay, a professor in the Department of Biological Science at the University of Calgary.
As if that wasn’t exciting enough, there will also be Zoom sessions hosted by experts on bison, the Destination Africa habitat of the Calgary Zoo, and more.
While the new normal may not be the in-person normal we would all like, it has opened some exciting doors through the wonder of technology.
For more information on this or other APL programs and events, please visit airdriepubliclibrary.ca
