"New Six Nations Library - it all starts with pennies"

OHSWEKEN - The Six Nations Library got a little help this week from the primary students of Oliver M. Smith school who collected 10,000 pennies, or $100, in a penny drive for the new Six Nations library, on Thursday, the 100th day of the school year.

About the venerable old building on Chiefswood Road, CEO and Head Librarian, Dr. Sabrina Redwing Saunders said, "It's kind of a cool old building, but we can't accommodate everyone here at this school, let alone everyone else."

At Thursday's general assembly, Dr. Saunders and OMSK librarian James Martin were proud of the young students and the work they did in collecting 10,000 pennies for the cause.

"We are very excited," says Saunders. "We know it's coming, it's just a case of raising the $15 million we need at this point, but we do believe that this is something we can raise one penny at a time."

Conceptual designs for the new Six Nations Public Library & Archives Repository are available for viewing at the library office on Chiefswood Road along with updates on the fundraising efforts and details about the new facility. This information and more is also posted on the Six Nations Library website, at http://snpl.ca/.

According the the website, "in 1967 when the Women's Institute of Ohsweken campaigned for the community library, the original thinking was to have the Six Nations Public Library called the Pauline Johnson Memorial Library. Although the name was not utilized, SNPL utilizes the Silver brooch (which goes by several names including the national emblem of the Iroquois and the brooch of brotherhood) which has historical significance to the community and was written of by the famous Haudenosaunee poetess. In P. Johnson's story, she states that the brooch is representative of two men, although opposing warriors, who eventually came together as brothers, sharing life and assets. We see SNPL as a place of enlightenment for the community, but also as a clearinghouse of Aboriginal information for all of residents of the territory who may wish to learn about historical and contemporary Aboriginal issues.

Dr. Saunders hopes the project will be "shovel ready" to break ground by about June of this year... that is if the funding necessary becomes available. "Being shovel ready means we will then be eligible for government grants," says Saunders. "If you don't want to be passed over for grants, as we have in the past, we need to be ready to go."

The land that has been purchased for the new site of the Library is located behind the Baptist Church on Fourth Line Road near the main intersection of Chiefswood Road. An estimated cost for the new facility is just over $15 million.

As is the case with most grants of this type, Six Nations will be expected to raise 1/3 of the total with the provincial and the federal governments adding 1/3 each. That makes the Six Nations community fund raising effort around $5 million.

To date the library board has filed a request to the Elected Band Council for $1 million to cover the library's portion, plus additional funding from other available sources as well.

There is roughly $800,000 already spent in the planning stages of the project including the purchase of the land, feasibility studies, conceptual drawings, and other miscellaneous expenses.

It will be a multi-use facility with a library and computer research stations but will also serve as an Six Nations' archive for historical documents, pictures and maps for public viewing, says Saunders, along with Elected Band Council records and documents.

The old library building began it's like in the community as the residence of the first on-reserve doctor to serve the people of Six Nations. Over the years it has been used three times as a library. Once in 1967, the second in the late 1970's and most recently, in 1997. It is on a lifetime lease from Band Council as long as it is a library, which means that once they leave, the building reverts back to Band Council.

There are no solid plans for the old building at this point, but despite it's considerable age, the building is structurally sound and has been kept up well. Most recent extensive renovations came about in the very late 1990's.

"It's a beautiful historic building and I'm sure it will be around for generations to come," says Saunders.

"First Nations Library Week is annually on Valentines Day and is intended for all the First Nation community libraries to be able to promote the efforts and activities we do on reserves," says Dr. Saunders. "It parallels with the Ontario Public Libraries Week which is in October. But instead of doing it at the same time, the First Nations Public Libraries decided to celebrate its libraries week in February since that is out story telling time. We felt that doing it at this time is more appropriate for us."

There are 49 First Nations Public Libraries in the province, but this isn't nearly as many reserves as are located within Ontario.