Gift-wrapped library books lend holiday spirit

Burgess said this program can bring more than festive spirit; it can also bring people outside their comfort zones. Photo by Heather Watson.

Librarians are lending out the festive spirit at the Courtenay branch of the Vancouver Island Regional Library this holiday season. Library users are invited to choose from a table of staff picks, each bundled up in festive wrapping paper, and take home an unknown tome to unwrap this winter. 

Customer service librarian Jessie Burgess explained this unique take on the ‘blind date with a book’ trend, as well as the importance of libraries.

“So the wrapped books, there's actually a very common program in libraries, it's called ‘Blind Date With a Book.’ But because it's the holiday season, we wanted to do something a little bit more fun in conjunction with the adult winter reading club,” Burgess said. “And so I just grabbed the staff members and I said go grab two books off the shelf that you really like, and then we wrapped them and we put the barcode so there's no peeking.”

Burgess said this program can bring more than festive spirit; it can also bring people outside their comfort zones.

“Having a comfort zone is not a bad thing,” she said. “If you like reading, say, science fiction, and that's really all you read, that's great. It's fine. But, you know, sometimes taking a step outside of that you could find something new and great. Or you may hate it, but that's the great thing about the library; if you don't like a book, you don't have to finish reading it, you can bring it back. No one's gonna know!”

As a hub of local community activity, this is not the only thing happening at the Courtenay library this season. Burgess said there are additional programs currently happening, for every age group:

“We've got the school holiday break going on, so we've got a ton of things going on, we have take-and-make kits for the kids. For teenagers, who have to get volunteer hours in, we've done a holiday teen review. So a teen can come pick one of the books off the list and then they write a review. But the reading and the writing, we will give them hours for their volunteer for school.” She continues, “we have the adult reading club: between January and February of 2025 every book you read, you get to enter one draw slip, and there's prizes.”

Prizes vary across locations, with the Courtenay branch offering a gift card to local booksellers Laughing Oyster Bookshop. 

These initiatives show there is more to libraries than a house of books. Burgess shared what the Courtenay library provides to the community:

“This is a social space. We welcome the community in and we try to provide the best amount of resources we can. It's just a good place to come [and] have some free activity. The community should care because strong libraries make strong communities.”

Burgess said that library cards are free; all you need to do is bring in a piece of ID with your current address. She also said that for folks without a permanent address, librarians will work with you to get you books. 

“Come in, get a card. We have e-resources, we have the in-branch programming, and we have the books, we have the DVDs... Like I said, we can get anything you want, and it's all free.”

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada. Reporting done in the Comox Valley is done in partnership with CVOX.