Take a Walk! Innovative Programming from Winnipeg Public Library

Headnote

Abstract

Historical walks, literary walks, and walking book clubs-learn how Winnipeg Public Library is taking it outside. Rebecca Solnit, in her book Wanderlust: A History of Walking, writes: "Walking shares with making and working that crucial element of engagement of the body and the mind with the world, of knowing the world through the body and the body through the world."

As libraries work hard to share knowledge with their communities and to engage patrons in new ways, this presentation addresses the practicalities of creating a program that speaks uniquely to your own neighbourhood and patrons: Learn about the walking programs offered by various Winnipeg Public Library branches; recognize the benefits of these programs and how they can relate to library programming goals and strategic plans; and identify resources that can help you develop your own walking programs.

This summary is based on a poster presentation given at the annual Ontario Library Association Super Conference held in Toronto, Ontario on January 27-30, 2016.

Keywords

Public librarianship; programming; community engagement

Introduction

Walking: many can do it and nobody is an expert. Walking is an exercise in simplicity (Solnit, 2000). For the majority of us, walking is a basic human activity requiring little mental effort and permitting our minds to be free to wander. According to some, walking fosters a mental state ideal for "innovative ideas and strokes of insight" (Jabr, 2014, para. 6).

Libraries: many communities have them and all are welcome. Libraries are institutions of knowledge, freedom, and access. Nowadays, libraries are further broadening their impact, going beyond their physical branches and increasingly becoming hubs for community connections by embracing and developing unique programming opportunities for their patrons.

The humble act of walking is experiencing a renaissance of sorts, with recent books and articles extolling its virtues (please see "Further Reading" for a selection of materials). Walking will make you healthier, more creative, more productive, and more communicative. (Wong, 2014). The Winnipeg Public Library (WPL) was interested in exploring the potential relationship between walking and the library-could it develop into a unique literary movement or perhaps cultivate what Ralph Waldo Emerson described as "gymnastics for the mind"? (Oriet, 2016, p. 2). With all this in mind, the WPL decided to...