From bulldozers to tower cranes and from girders and posts, there’s not too much about building a new home for the Airdrie Public Library (APL) that doesn’t excite APL Director Deb Cryderman.
“I get a little chill every time I go by it,” exudes Cryderman of the new municipal multi-use facility being constructed on Main Street, replacing the library’s previous strip-mall location across from Tower Lane.
She has come a long way from Sudbury, Ont., where she was born and raised. Her dad was in mining, all her friends had family in mining, and the giant nickel in her hometown made it pretty clear it was a mining town.
“Rocks are everywhere there. I grew up around rocks. I explored rocks. I loved rocks,” Cryderman says. “They didn’t talk back to me!”
Rocks were all she wanted to play with when she grew up, her goal being to become a geologist. Even when her family moved to another mining town — Fernie, B.C. — her goal didn’t waver.
When Cryderman enrolled at the University of Lethbridge, she was required to take a liberal arts course.
“I chose sociology, for whatever reason,” she recalls. “That particular course revolved entirely around [Margaret Atwood’s novel,] The Handmaid’s Tale, and I was hooked. That’s all I wanted to study for the rest of my life! I just wanted to know how people worked when they’re together.”
While Cryderman was earning her degree in sociology, the undergrad continued to be involved in what she thought was just a hobby.
“I had worked in the Fernie Library as a summer student, and the University [of Lethbridge] Library in the winter. I even volunteered at the Lethbridge Public Library in my spare time. I loved the library.” Before long, sociology gave way to a new passion — libraries.
After becoming a credited library technician, Cryderman worked in the Northwest Territories as a school librarian. A stint in oil and gas landed her in Calgary. Next came library positions in Cranbrook, B.C., Camrose and Grande Prairie. In the fall of 2023, Cryderman became the new director of APL.
“I feel like I’m finally home!” she says. “I travelled many times through Airdrie from Calgary on my way north, and I always thought it was a neat little town. And now? To be a part of this new project? It’s simply incredible!”
Cryderman says there is actually a formula for how large a library should be based upon the size and diversity of its municipality. Airdrie’s old library (next to City Hall) is about a quarter the size of what it should be for a city that is now past 80,000 residents. In contrast, the new facility, just down the road, on the site of the former fire hall on Main Street S., will be 73,000 sq. ft., with 53,000 designated for the new library.
“We have spectacular programmers, who are really passionate about what they do, building community,” Cryderman says. “However, we don’t have a collection that reflects our community. We have great programming, but we need more diverse programming.”
Cryderman says public libraries are vital to maintaining community connections.
“We live in an isolating time, in my mind. It’s become easy to stay at home. We’ve become more connected to our devices, than to other human beings,” she says. “The library is one of the only places where everyone can go. Where we can meet people who are different. When we interact with each other, face to face, the differences fall away.
“We are building a community so people can get along outside the building.”
Cryderman, along with the library board and staff, has been actively collaborating with the City of Airdrie on the $65-million project, which is set for a fall 2025 opening. The Airdrie Multi-Use and Library Facility (AMULF) will be focused on art and the bringing together of artists and ideas. (See more details on page 84 of the fall 2024 issue.)
“Participation from the community is welcome,” she says. “We have so many opportunities to get involved personally, such as naming a room, or even a library shelf. The Advocates for the Airdrie Public Library (a volunteer friends-of-the-library group) are also a great part of this initiative. Anyone can physically be a part of the building!”
With the new library’s grand opening less than a year away, Cryderman watches the bricks and mortar become walls, rooms, windows and open doors, and she couldn’t be happier.
Learn more about the new library and the multi-use spaces at www.amulf.ca.
