OOTS grows up
The Phoenix rises. Out On The Shelf, Guelph's queer library and resource centre, is moving to a new location. This started because the Canadian Mental Health Association, which hosted the library free of charge and provided some funding, lost its budget to do so.
From the moment we learnt about this less than three months ago, the people who run the library chose to view the problem as an opportunity for growth, a challenge toward independence. The queer community has a taste for drama, so onlookers tended to turn the incident into a calamity, but the organizing collective and supportive volunteers stuck to their position, launching a campaign to raise $30,000 to cover rent and operational expenses. A committee is hastening to apply for charitable status and grants.
The hardest part was finding a new location. Most everyone agreed that the CMHA room had its drawbacks. We wished for what we did not have: our own street entrance with the freedom to open and hold special events whenever we chose. But the downtown location was hard to beat (readily accessible to youth and people with disabilities, etc.), and rent prices there seemed out of range. The deadline to move out was the beginning of June, and less than a month ago no good leads had turned up.
About two weeks ago we found space available in the Matrix Building, a co-operative housing project. It's less than a block from OOTS' current location, for half what anyone expected to pay. It opens onto a sunny terrace providing some privacy from the busy street (corner of Woolwich, Wyndham and Eramosa), and another upstairs terrace will be available for special occasions. In the past two weeks a garage sale raised more money than anyone believed possible, and a fundraising dance sold out, so expenses will be covered for the next few months.
The library has closed until June 19, when it will reopen at 141 Woolwich St., Unit 109. Denise and I spent our Tuesday evening shift loading the fiction section into boxes, and labelling them. I have also set aside this weekend to help. The physical move happens on Saturday, 10 to 5. Anyone available to assist would be welcome, as would a van or truck.
The library is an exciting and unexpected initiative in a city small as Guelph. The time and energy I can donate is mostly limited to Tuesday evenings, but OOTS has been pulled together by a truly fine, motivated group of individuals: Dave, Tahira, Michele, Sarah, Lori and Jerome to name a few. It is greatly encouraging to witness their hard work and frustration turn to success. If anything, this obstacle has served to raise the library's profile in the general community.