Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (Jan 25/06) - The library at Nunavut Arctic College's (NAC) Kivalliq campus in Rankin Inlet received a substantial boost in resources this past week, courtesy of Uncle Sam.

Nunavut Arctic College's manager of library services Rae-Lynne Patterson and Kivalliq campus librarian Stella Kablalik, right, proudly display some of the almost $10,000 US worth of books donated by the U.S. Embassy. - Darrell Greer/NNSL photo

Rae-Lynne Patterson is the manager of library services for NAC in Iqaluit.

She says the donation of about $10,000 US in materials was provided through The American Shelf program.

The initiative sees the U.S. Embassy donate materials to libraries around the world.

"When the donation was offered to us, I suggested the majority of the material be held at NAC's Kivalliq campus as opposed to the campus in Iqaluit," says Patterson.

"They have a list of materials to choose from because they have a certain criteria set up around the goals they want to achieve, so I couldn't just pick anything I wanted.

"The material aims to present a pro-American presence wherever it's located and we're no exception."

Most of the books were received in Iqaluit this past fall, where they were catalogued before being shipped to Rankin.

The official dedication in Iqaluit was performed by U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins.

Patterson says NAC received about 200 books, a number of DVD players and the shelving the books are housed in.

She says the books range in material from kids stories to biographies and business materials.

"The Kivalliq campus library is just being established and building it up has become sort of a goal of mine.

"This material gave me a way to help build up library services in another part of the territory.

"It's a good core base to build from because the books vary so much in subject matter."

The books were unveiled in Rankin on Jan. 19 and Paterson says they will be made available to the general public.

She says a number of the titles will support courses being taught at the college, including management studies. "There's also a wide variety that are fun to read and we hope they will encourage people to come to the library, see what we have and get used to using the resources."