Halifax Public Libraries adds collection from Autism Nova Scotia

April 08, 2016 

As the number of families affected by autism continues to grow, Autism Nova Scotia and Halifax Public Libraries want to make helpful resources more readily available.

The organization donated more than 100 resource books to the library and invited about 40 children and Mayor Mike Savage for story time to welcome the new collection on Thursday.

 Children laugh during story time at the Halifax Central Library during an announcement with Autism Nova Scotia on Thursday. © Jeff Harper/Metro

  

“Autism Nova Scotia had a large resource library in our space but it wasn’t overly accessible, because of our hours they were kind of hard to get to, so we donated them to the library,” Director of Development for Autism Nova Scotia, Laura Hastings said at the event on Thursday.

The collection has a range of books from children’s picture books to resource books for parents and adults.

“Not a lot is different about the children’s books besides the topic that’s covered in the book. Often it is about how kids can behave differently and how individuality is ok,” said Hastings.
“Some of the other books may be little more science based, some of them were first person biographies, some are on living well as an adult with autism or improving employability,” Hastings said.

Manager of Collection and Access for the Halifax Public Library system, Dave MacNeil, said the library is thrilled to receive the donation of specially curated books.

“We’ve been noticing that because there is less of a stigma behind the topic, we see more people asking questions and coming out to the public instead of asking doctors about this kind of stuff,” said MacNeil. 

The library has a budget each year, limiting the number of books that can be brought in on each particular topic in an attempt to appeal to wider audiences. It would have taken the library years to build up a collection this large on such a niche topic, but MacNeil said that’s not the only thing that makes this donation so special.

“We have a small group of people who do the selection for all the books for the library system, as talented as they are, to have someone whose expertise are on something very specific as autism and autism awareness, to have them supplement our collection with a large number of very high quality books is just fantastic,” said MacNeil.

The books will be distributed throughout the public library system and titles that are unavailable at one location can be sent to another on request to allow for accessibility in more rural areas. 

Source: Truro Daily News