Published July 3, 2024
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Summer reading activities to resume at city libraries after strike

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

The 26 libraries in the Ville de Québec public library system reopened June 27 after a strike which lasted nearly four months, and most summer activities have resumed as of July 2.

“Libraries will open their doors according to their usual schedule. Users will then be able to use various services again such as reserving documents online, making loans and returns, making requests for technological assistance and more,” Audrey de Champlain of the Ville de Québec citizen relations service said in a statement.

The libraries have reopened just in time for summer reading activities for school-age children, story hours for younger kids and family arts-and-crafts and scavenger hunt activities to resume.

The mobile children’s library at the Habitations Saint-Pie-X housing project in Maizerets will reopen July 17. The Paul-Aimé-Paiement Library in Charlesbourg is open despite ongoing construction, with episodic brief closures planned for the coming months.

The strike began March 1, the same day the city’s central library, the Gabrielle-Roy Library in Saint-Roch, was expected to reopen after nearly five years of closure for major renovations, slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic, difficulties with calls for tenders and unexpected major repairs to a beam. The city had planned a weekend of concerts and celebrations to mark the reopening, all of which were scuttled at the last minute due to the strike, costing the city an estimated $60,000. De Champlain’s colleague François Moisan told the QCT no decision has yet been made about when or whether the city would plan new reopening celebrations for the flagship library.

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