Community · CP series
Community programme
The catalogue is one half of the library's work. The other half happens in rooms: reading circles, drop-in sessions, clinics and workshops run with municipal libraries, neighbourhood associations and community organisations across Manitoba. This page lists what is running, how to take part, and how to propose material for the catalogue.
Educational projects
Programmes run with partner organisations. All are free to attend.
Winter Reading Circles
Six discussion groups hosted with municipal libraries in Winnipeg, Brandon, Selkirk and Steinbach. Each circle works through one publication over a month, using discussion sheets prepared by the desk. Facilitators are volunteers; no prior teaching experience is required and the sheets are written to be read aloud.
Digital skills drop-in
Weekly drop-in sessions covering account recovery, backups, device handover and recognising fraud patterns. Sessions run on the library's checklists so that a participant leaves with a completed sheet rather than a memory of a demonstration.
Records clinics
Half-day clinics run with community centres and settlement organisations, helping households build a one-drawer filing system and an inventory of important documents. Interpretation is arranged by the host organisation where needed.
School council toolkit trial
A trial with four school councils testing the community project planning sheet and the public comment worksheet in a real decision cycle. Findings will be published as a revision note rather than as a separate report.
Seasonal preparedness sessions
Short sessions delivered with neighbourhood associations before the first frost and again before spring melt, using the 72-hour checklist and the household communication plan. Content is aligned with current municipal guidance, which participants are shown how to find themselves.
Plain-language reading panel
A standing panel of readers who check drafts for clarity before publication. Panel members read two to three drafts a year and are asked to mark anything they had to read twice.
Volunteer initiatives
Volunteers do four kinds of work here: facilitating sessions, reading drafts for clarity, checking that references and links still resolve, and helping at clinics. None of these roles requires teaching or library experience. What they do require is a realistic commitment, because a programme that loses a facilitator mid-season is worse for participants than one that never started.
Facilitating
Two hours a session, plus about an hour of preparation. A facilitation pack and a short orientation are provided. Most facilitators commit to one season.
Reading panel
Two to three drafts a year, read at your own pace, with a simple marking convention. Panel readers are credited in the publication unless they prefer not to be.
Reference checking
Quarterly checks that cited public sources are still current and that links resolve. Suits anyone who likes methodical work and can follow a checklist.
Before joining, read the note on commitment and handover in the community resources collection. It sets out what we ask, what you can expect from us, and how to leave a role cleanly when circumstances change.
Public discussions
Discussion at Moolmes is structured around published material rather than open comment. Each reading circle works from a discussion sheet with four or five questions; each workshop ends with a written round where participants record what they will do next. Notes from these sessions are read by the editorial desk and frequently change the catalogue: several worksheets exist because a participant said the existing sheet asked the wrong question.
| Source | Change to the catalogue |
|---|---|
| Records clinic, March 2026 | Retention sheet split into “confirm with issuer” and “general practice” columns after repeated confusion. |
| Reading circle, February 2026 | Method book chapter 3 rewritten with a paper-only schedule after participants reported no reliable device access. |
| Preparedness session, October 2025 | Checklist reordered by urgency rather than category. |
| Digital drop-in, ongoing | Device handover checklist gained a verification box for each stage. |
Learning events
Scheduled sessions for the coming season. Registration is handled by the host organisation; write to the reference desk if you are unsure which contact applies.
Reading circle facilitator orientation
Online · 90 minutes
An introduction to the discussion sheets and to running a circle where participants have very different reading speeds.
Preparing a home before the first frost
Winnipeg Millennium Library · 2 hours
A working session using the seasonal changeover checklist, with separate tables for renters and owners.
Public comment workshop
Online · 2 hours
Preparing and delivering a five-minute comment to a municipal committee, with practice rounds and written feedback.
Records clinic: one drawer, one afternoon
Exchange District reading room · 3 hours
Bring the papers you have been meaning to sort. Places are limited to twelve so that everyone gets desk space.
Reading circle: The Adult Learner's Method Book
Four locations · 6 weeks
A six-week circle working through the method book one chapter at a time, with a short exercise between sessions.
Submitting material
Readers may propose three kinds of contribution: a correction to an existing entry, a local variation (for example, how a process differs in a particular province), or a new worksheet or reference sheet. All three go through the same review as material written in house.
- Write to the reference desk with a short description of what you propose and the shelf mark it relates to, if there is one.
- The desk replies within two business days to say whether it fits the catalogue's scope, and what review would be needed.
- You send the draft. It is read for accuracy by a subject reader and for clarity by the plain-language panel. You see every proposed change before publication.
- The entry is catalogued, given a shelf mark, and credited to you unless you ask otherwise.
What we cannot accept. Promotional material, content written to advertise a product or service, personal advice for an individual case, and anything that would require the library to hold personal information about a third party. We also decline material we cannot check.