"Your Ride to the Library is Here"

By Jim WINDLE

OHSWEKEN - Fund raising efforts for the new, $15 million Six Nations library are in full swing and include the raffling off a rare, bright orange Dodge Charger Super-Bee muscle-car valued at just under $50,000.

"There are 11 of these cars in Ontario, and this specific car is one of only three orange models in the province," says Six Nations Librarian, Sabrina Saunders.

Usually, when a car is being raffled, an auto dealer in the area might make a car available at cost which is raffled and the proceeds, after the price of the car comes off, is what goes towards the project being raffled for. In this case however, the entire proceeds will go towards the new library.

"This year we were very lucky," says Saunders. "We were very lucky to have Ken Mt. Pleasant from KT Tobacco generously purchase the car and donate it to the library to be raffled off."

The hope is that much more than the price of the car would be generated.

"We are hoping to double the amount of the cost of the car, Saunders says. "Tickets will be sold right up to draw time."

Last chance will be at the library's golf tournament on August 31st and the draw will take place immediately following the golf tournament, at 2 pm, at Sundrin Golf Course on Highway #6.

"We anticipate sales to increase though July and August," she said. "We are hopeful we can generate a lot more that the value of the car itself. That would be great for us, but I'm sure it would make the donors of the car happy to know their donation grew."

Once built, the new library will quickly become an information hub for the community.

It is to be built on Fourth Line Road, across from the Village Cafe and behind the Baptist Church, still within the village core and accessible to students after school and pedestrian traffic.

In 2012, Six Nations' KL Martin and Associates won the tendering process for the design and construction of the new library.

"We are so pleased to be working with Kevin (Martin) on this," says Saunders. "He brings so much to the table and has put so much 'value added' to the community project."

To cover the estimated cost of the new building, Six Nations Community Trust has put in a promissory note for $1 million, and Six Nations Elected Council has put a promissory note in for $3.8 million. The library's efforts have raised just about $80,000 from other initiatives to date.

"Together, with that $5 million we have raised, we want to ask the provincial and federal governments to provide 1/3 each through grants to go towards the building," Saunders says.

Because of the provincial election, the grants process has been delayed for about a year, but it is estimated that it will take about 18 months from ground break to grand opening, once the funding is secured.

One of the most exciting aspects of the new 51,000 sq. ft. facility will be much more than books on a shelf. It will also be a repository for Six Nations archives to house historic documents and artifacts, and a place to house current archival materials.

"We don't wanna just babysit books," says Saunders. "We want to become the community's living room."

According to Saunders, he importance of this archival feature is that, until now, all historic and sensitive materials concerning Six Nations are held in Ottawa or at McMaster University.

"With this, they will be coming back to us," she says.

There will also be lecture rooms where authors, and experts can come and present their information, and plans are being made to be able to record and stream lectures and talks to other reserves and to remote territories.

A language lab will also be a part of the new facility where people can come and learn their language through programs like "Rosetta Stone."

There will also be a "living history' room named in memory of longtime teacher, author and memory keeper George Beaver who passed away recently.

"George was a trustee of the library for over 30 years, sat on the Southern Ontario Library board, and has made a big difference, not only in education, but in the public library."

There are so many ways the new facility can be used, but planners have also tried to be frugal in their space usage by introducing multi-purpose rooms to share between local groups and organizations.