News and Updates

Idea Exchange has received national recognition with two library awards: the 2023 TD Summer Reading Club Accessibility Award from the Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA) and a 2023 TD Summer Reading Club Library Award (Second, English), sponsored by TD Bank Group. The awards were presented at the Saskatchewan Libraries Conference on Thursday, May 3.

We are excited to announce that a permanent Multi-Sensory Room is now available for use at our Clemens Mill location. This unique space follows the success of our 2023 Multi-Sensory Room pilot project which received the Minister's Award for Innovation (Large Library Category) earlier this year. 

In 2023, we celebrated anniversaries at two of our locations; the 100 years of the Carnegie Library Building in Hespeler and 5 years of discovery at the Old Post Office, created an award winning Multi-Sensory Room pilot project at Clemens Mill, conducted a community survey for our 2024-2027 Strategic Pl

We are excited to announce that a new video magnifier is now available at Queen’s Square. This assistive technology device can help people with vision loss and impairments read, write, and view texts and images.

Many Idea Exchange members have started to plan and prepare their gardens using the wide selection of seeds we offer year-round in Preston’s Seed Library cabinet. As spring starts, gardeners can also pick up seeds at all our other locations from the Little Seed Libraries, which will be available until May. Each Little Seed Library will have some of our most popular vegetables, herbs, and flowers to choose from and help your garden grow. 

Jessica and Molly are ready to welcome you to our Preston location, where they are always happy to show off the beautiful backyard garden, Seed Library, and tool collection, all of which are exclusive to this location.Jessica, the Senior Branch Assistant, has been at Preston since 2014. Molly started at the Old Post Office’s Discovery Centre in 2021 and has served as Preston’s Youth Services Team Lead for the past year. They are both proud to play a part in Idea Exchange’s vital role within the Preston community.

Hey students! We know it can be difficult to study sometimes: all you want is a little peace and quiet, reliable Wi-Fi and laptops, and to get your exams proctored. Fortunately, Idea Exchange can help you with some of these needs and make acing that big project or test a little easier.

Idea Exchange was honoured to receive the Minister's Award for Innovation (Large Library Category) at the annual Ontario Library Association Super Conference. The award, which recognizes successful new approaches that demonstrate a positive impact in a community and are of continued value to public libraries, touted the library’s 2023 Multi-Sensory Room pilot project.

Michael and Ashish are two friendly faces in our IT Department. Michael has been with us since 2014, but before that, he started as an intern with the department. Ashish has been a part of Idea Exchange for two years. He has worked as system administration, network administration, and providing technical support to staff. They both play a vital part in the technology services we provide, including access to Wi-Fi, computers, and other systems.

Symposium Piece for Eva by Canadian sculptor Haydn Davies has been installed at our Queen’s Square location since 1997. After an extensive deaccessioning process, which included consultation with the artist’s family, it was decided that the work be removed from its Queen’s Square location. On November 21, 2023, the work was returned to the Davies family. As a community, we have enjoyed this important Canadian sculpture for over 25 years.