Volunteers flooded through the doors of the Jasper Municipal Library when it closed two weeks ago, lightening the load for library staff as they made the transition into their temporary home.

“We would just leave the door open and people walk in and say, ‘What can I do?’” said Judy Krefting, director of library services. “We’ve had an amazing number of volunteers.”

There were dozens of people coming and going, running up and down the stairs and in and out of the door, doing whatever was asked of them during the library’s week-long shutdown.

Some volunteers placed books in boxes or secured them in plastic wrap, while others disassembled furniture in the library’s home on Elm Avenue and transported the pieces to the new, temporary location, under the bleachers at the Jasper Activity Centre, only to put the furniture back together again.

Krefting said she even had cab drivers stopping by to offer their vehicles to move whatever they could.

The library is moving for about 15 months to allow for a $7.5-million expansion and renovation to the existing building.

The temporary location, which opened Oct. 24, is a significant downsize, so about 300 boxes of juvenile non-fiction and fiction will be put in storage.

Krefting said because there are school libraries where youth can access similar books, the library decided in the interim that those would be the easiest to do without. 

Although the selection of books won’t be as large at the temporary location, the library will still be offering its TRAC system, which allows residents to share books with other libraries in the region. It will also maintain four computer stations, down from six.

Although it has been and will be a lot of work to make the transition, Krefting said in the long run, the expansion and renovation will be worth the effort because it will transform the library into a cultural centre for the community.

There will be a video conference room, a sitting area, a cafe area that can be used for author readings, an office for the mayor and council, and a multi-purpose room that will be used for council meetings. And on top of all of that, there will also be space for the Jasper Arts Guild, Habitat for the Arts and for L’Association canadienne-française de l’Alberta.

The project is being paid for by the Canadian Building Fund, fundraising efforts by Friends of the Library, and from MSI Capital Grant funding.

Municipal council approved the expansion and renovation in May, and earlier this month, the construction contracts for the project were signed with Edmonton-based Delnor Construction.

Work began on the site last week, with the house next door to the library being lifted onto a flatbed truck and hauled away to a new location.

Municipal manager George Krefting said work will now be focused on the addition.

“We’re wanting to get the foundations in and get that work done before it gets too cold,” he said. “So it’s a bit of a rush to get that done right now.”