Friends of the London Public Library donates $250,000 towards Central Library Campaign

Londoners who packed the Wolf Performance Hall to listen to local author Emma Donoghue had another reason to celebrate.

On Thursday June 15^th, the Friends of the London Public Library, who hosted the event, announced their pledge of $250,000 to the infinite Possibilities Campaign.

The donation goes towards the Library’s initiative to develop creative spaces at the Central library for those in the community to enjoy.

“As you will notice if you’ve been to the Central Library, we’ve started to do renovations, and now we are looking to build spaces within the building that allow people to be creative with new technologies, allowing people to meet and be creative with each other,” said Chairman of the London Public Library Board, Scott Courtice.

Courtice has worked alongside Friends for many years and believes that this leadership gift will help the London Public Library move their campaign along in a significant way.

“It’s really getting us off to a really good start, and now we’re going to look at Londoners to help us raise the 3 quarters that we need to get over the finish line.”

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The pledge of $250,000 is a quarter of the total $1-million project. President of Friends, Carmen Sprovieri, tells AM980 why they came to the decision to donate such a large amount towards the Library’s campaign.

“The library is open to everyone and is a vital community service, with no cover charge, helping those who aren’t able to get to the library, so it’s important towards bettering and growing the downtown community,” said Sprovieri.

A large portion of the campaign will go towards the Children’s Maker Space. This will be an area in the children’s library that will engage children and families in play-based learning. This will help stimulate young minds in building, creating art, and learning how to make an everyday object come to life, according to the London Public Library.

Local author Emma Donoghue — accompanied by her daughter Una — headlined the event, and is a strong supporter of the revitalization of the Public Library. To celebrate the occasion, Donoughe and her daughter read to the audience sections of her plays.

Londoners can look forward to many spaces, including an enhanced computer Lab, a digital media studies room, and a memory lab that showcases digitally reproduced historic photos of London. For more information about the London’s Public Library’s infinite possibilities campaign, or if you would like to donate, you can visit www.lpl.ca/donate.