#jouRapNal #book18 day 72

20260223Mon

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#kw #kpl #anyTimeFitness

INSTRUMENT LIBRARIES HELP SPREAD MUSIC

As the cost of music education continues to rise, instrument lending programs across Waterloo Region are helping remove financial and logistical barriers for families, students, and schools. 

Local nonprofit organizations operate instrument lending programs aimed at improving access to music education, particularly for children and youth. One program is Bandology, a program that enriches the music experience of kids and teens through performance opportunities. The Kitchener Public Library (KPL) also runs their music library program, where library members can sign out an instrument using their library card. 

Juliana Rutledge, the Innovation Manager and Head of Operations at Bandology, said instrument libraries play a crucial role in helping young people who may not otherwise be able to participate in music programs. 

“Music libraries are really important because they level the playing field for a lot of kids and the whole community…in order to be able to access music and to be able to experience music education,” Rutledge said. 

They also allow community members to experience new interests at low cost.  

“Borrowing an instrument from the library offers people a chance to try a new creative interest without an expensive investment,” Kerri Hutchinson, Manager of Marketing and Communications at the KPL, said. 

For Rutledge, the goal is simple: ensuring that cost or access never prevents someone from experiencing music. 

“If you’re looking for a little more music in your life, reach out. There’s absolutely something that can be done,” she said. 

Research has shown that music education is associated with enhanced academic and cognitive skills, improved social and emotional development, and positive effects on youth well-being. However, access to music programs has become increasingly difficult, as arts funding is often among the first areas cut during budget constraints. 

“The arts generally are often the first to be cut when there are expense issues,” Rutledge said. “If you are looking to shrink a budget and find some light arms to cut, music is an easy one to say no to.” 

Bandology’s instrument lending library was developed in 2021 and 2022 to improve access to instruments and music programs. The program officially launched after the organization received capital grants from the Ontario Trillium Foundation in 2023 and 2024, allowing the nonprofit to purchase a wide range of instruments. 

Today, the library includes 77 instruments across 23 different categories, including woodwinds, brass, and large percussion instruments such as tubas, vibraphones, and timpani. The collection has also been supported by donations from community members. 

“These instruments, they’re doing no good to us sitting on our shelves,” Rutledge said. “We want them to be loaned out. We want students in the community who want to make more music and are looking for a way to do that.” 

Bandology’s lending program serves multiple regions, including Kitchener-Waterloo, Halton and Guelph. Rutledge said the program fills gaps for families who cannot afford instruments, as well as for schools with limited or aging collections. 

“We had one school in Milton last year that was brand new, like still a dirt patch on Google Maps, and they borrowed about a dozen instruments to supplement what they didn’t have,” Rutledge said.  

The organization works closely with local educators, who play a key role in connecting students with the program. Rutledge said more than half of applicants learned about the lending library through their music teachers. 

“We have a network of teachers that we stay in touch with, and they definitely feel the impact of knowing that there is something to fall back on if their classroom doesn’t have whatever the item might be,” she said. 

In addition to the lending library, Bandology runs annual band camps for students in grades one through twelve and offers music workshops in partnership with schools and community organizations. While the nonprofit primarily focuses on children and youth, Rutledge said it is also exploring intergenerational programming that brings different age groups together through music. 

The Kitchener Public Library’s musical instrument collection shares a similar focus on accessibility through instrument lending. According to the Kitchener Public Library, instruments can be borrowed for free with a valid library card. 

“The library has a musical instrument collection with 19 different instruments to choose from,” Hutchinson said. The most popular items include acoustic guitars, digital keyboards, xylophones, and bongo drums. Other available instruments include cajons, djembes, dulcimers, and doumbeks. Instruments can be borrowed for three weeks at a time, with the option to extend if there are no holds. 

The collection is available at the library’s Central branch in downtown Kitchener and was created with support from Sun Life Financial. The library now maintains the collection through its operating budget and donor contributions. 

Rutledge said the growth of instrument lending programs reflects a broader recognition of music’s value within communities. 

“There’s more push for instrument loans through libraries and non-profits like Bandology,” she said. “More music is good for all music organizations.” 

For more information, visit the KPL website or bandology.ca. 

Kitchener Public Library Undergoes Structural Changes, Union Raises Concerns

Kitchener Public Library (KPL) is undergoing changes to align with a new strategic plan leading to the union representing workers at KPL to voice concerns.   

Joseph Brannan, vice-president of CUPE Local 331, said the union was notified of changes in the summer that included possible layoffs, job title changes and potential cuts to programming.  

In a statement, KPL said that no staff will be laid off. Two full-time and three-part time staff received notices that their jobs would be eliminated as of Jan. 5, 2026; however, all five of these individuals have already accepted new positions at the library.   

“We’re changing how we work to make sure we can continue to deliver exceptional service and experiences at all library locations today and in the future as Kitchener continues to grow rapidly,” KPL said in a statement.  

“New positions reflect strategic changes that will serve the community in a sustainable way and allow us to remain responsive over time,” the statement continued.  

While each of the five roles that were eliminated and reassigned, Brannan claimed that individuals were forced to move to new locations and even accept roles in different departments outside of their previous scope.   

“In many cases, people were not given a choice and are moving away from the library location that’s closest to their home,” Brannan said.  

“That’s really devastating to people, to be taken from that local library community that they know…it really shakes up the team aspects that they have and it really shakes confidence in the ability to trust in decisions that focus on people and community,” Brannan said.  

With regards to programming, Brannan said KPL has amalgamated the programming team to 16 from 36 in the previous year, also shifting their roles from purely programming to public facing at service desks as well.   

“I think library staff see that there’s a strength to being in a customer facing role as well as in the programming role, because it means the program staff are more in touch with what the public is interested in and what they hear, hearing from the public by interacting with them,” Brannan said.   

“The new model eliminates a lot of people from being able to develop programs…it takes specialized knowledge and life skills out of that team. Yes, it’s dedicated full time staff doing that work, but you don’t have any more.” 

While the union raised concerns over cuts to programming that would impact the public, KPL said in a statement that all library services will continue without interruption.   

“We are not cutting library services. Some library programs will start a couple of weeks later than normal in January to accommodate staff training and development, but most library services will continue without interruption,” KPL said in a statement.  

Since the strategic plan has publicized, Brannan said KPL has responded to some of the union’s concerns, including changes to job titles.  

“The library was going to eliminate the job title of librarian, and for a number of other employees, was going to remove library from the job title,” Brannan said.   

“That was a step that was astounding to staff and really kind of self hurtful,” he said.  

After consultation with staff, Brannan said KPL decided to forgo this change to titles.  

From a strategic mindset, Brannan said that while some changes to KPL were necessary, the implementation of the changes has been the main concern.   

“We completely agree that there are a lot of areas that needed focus…it’s more that the way that the changes are being done that staff have found really disrespectful and jarring,” Brannan said. 

“It’s been really a huge hit to morale,” he said.   

Moving forward, Brannan expressed concern but said he is hopeful the library will continue to deliver on its mandate to the public.  

“All of us are still really passionate about the library, about the public and the work that we do in providing information, providing people access to library programs and books and literacy,” he said.  

Clarification: Kerri Hutchinson, manager of marketing and communications at the KPL, clarified that, throughout the changes KPL followed the Collective Agreement and worked closely with the union executive. While employees typically need to re-apply for their positions in the event of a location change as outlined under the Collective Agreement, to reduce disruption for staff the KPL and CUPE Local 331 signed a one-time Letter of Understanding to forego the need of reapplication in this process.

#jouRapNal #book18 day 14

#3goodThings #roblox #wrestling #moving #threeGoodThings

#AEW #worldsEnd #KPL

[edit: musical audio version in story below]
Reading this book at the #kpl on Sat for the #fediBookFair:

--1/?

Yeesa's Far Fetched Feline Foray {CatGPT3}

Yeesa the now torrid Cat had previously been happy to sit napping on a lap.
Why was it so tough for Himlayans to understand?
Since the mid 3000s, mountains were most often scaled by drones.
The effort it takes to climb Everest; only those who were ever at their best could make it.

So why, pray tell, would a humble Tibetian feline brave these crags?
Must be the simple, inescapable fact: someone had to take stock of the history of Himilayan carnage!

Whiskers ablur, she launched from boulder to naked gravel. Sure, she could conquer Everest, but would she ever rest again?

Just then she happened upon yet another explorer.
Deader than a doornail.
That was why she named him Cliche.
Better mark Ol' Cliche down in her collar phone.
She quickly placed her paw on the lithe ring around her neck.

The black collar read her thoughts into its memory, taking her gps location.

A few moments later she arrived arridly at another cadaver.
This one's named Alliteration.
She almost alighted alluringly on its pack but slipped in surprise upon noting this walker was a woman.
She tapped her collar thinking it was rare for women to succumb to the Himalayans.

The sky grew darker by the minute.
Onward her 4 paws flew.
She had to reach the next outpost before sunfall.
She thought she could see it up ahead but in its path lay another walker.
Wasted like all the rest.
Or, perhaps, from lack thereof.
Should she call it Homograph, or Homonym?
Definitely not Homophone.

Deciding on Homograph, she also thoughtlisted its 100 meter distance from the outpost, now visible around the next sentence.
A sentence that brought her closer to the orange tent.

You read that right.

When black is the new orange, boulders are referred to as sentences.

...continued in thread...