Library users can check out more than just books when they show their card this winter.
The Okotoks Public Library has purchased three sets of snowshoes in a variety of sizes for its patrons to take home this winter.
“We do try to look for out-of-the-box items people might want that would actually fit the residents and the area we live in,” said library director Tessa Nettleton.
The library brought in urban walking poles three years ago with its emerging trends budget. Over the years, the library has also purchased video games and consoles and Fisher Price toys for people to borrow and educational touch screens in the children’s area of the library with the same funds.
The snowshoes were a natural fit for 2018, she said. Some other libraries in the Marigold Library System already had snowshoes and Nettleton said the Okotoks branch was often asked whether it had some in stock.
The snowshoes are available to check out for seven days by library patrons in good standing, she said.
“They’re not cheap items, so we always have to be very careful about how they actually go out,” said Nettleton. “We make sure anyone who wants to take them out is in good standing with the library and doesn’t have high fines or things like that.”
The snowshoes were road-tested by one of the Okotoks Library board members, Tanelle Nash, over the Christmas holidays.
“It went really well,” said Nash, library board chair. “My husband had previous experience with snowshoeing but it was actually my first time and they were a lot of fun. They were easy to figure out and they worked amazing on the snow.”
Her test drive came just days after Okotoks was covered by more than 30 cm of snow on Dec. 20, which she said gave her a real sense of how the shoes work.
She and her husband walked through the snowy soccer field behind their home to a sledding hill for their children to take to the slopes while they played with the snowshoes.
It’s not a very intense workout, but it can be tricky to learn how to maneuver with the snowshoes on, she said.
“I didn’t find it real difficult, but you definitely have to exaggerate your walking a little bit, because you still sink into the snow a little bit, but not nearly as far as you do without them,” said Nash.
It was so much fun to try them out, she and her husband are already planning to sign them out from the library at their first opportunity, she said.
The snowshoes are available behind the counter at the library. For more information call 403-938-2220.
