INUVIK - Students at Sir Alexander Mackenzie School have been cracking the spines of new books this year thanks to a grant that has helped update the collection in the school's library.

Cynthia Whelan, librarian for Sir Alexander Mackenzie School, holds some of the new books purchased by a $2,000 grant from the Canadian Federation of University Women. The majority of funding for the school's library comes from fundraising and corporate donations. - Samantha Stokell/NNSL photo

The school received a $2,000 grant in March from the Canadian Federation of University Women. The non-governmental organization seeks to improve access to education for women, and supports peace, justice, environmental and human rights initiatives.

The school purchased Northern books, newer novel series and updated books with the grant.

"We've expanded the Northern collection, just to educate children on their culture and traditions," said Cynthia Whelan, school librarian. "(The grant) keeps students up to date with other students in Canada and the world. A lot of kids don't have access to books (at home) because of financial reasons."

The library has 17,000 books, many of which still need to be updated. The majority of funding for the library comes from corporate sponsors or grants. The school finished receiving an Indigo Love of Reading Foundation grant this year of $100,000 in cash and books over three years.

That bursary allowed the school to hire Whelan as the first librarian in the school. Prior to that, volunteers helped out at the library.

"Now we know what we have here and everything is catalogued so we can go forward with updating," Whelan said. "Libraries are still needed. The library in our school is one of the focal points for research."

Each month Whelan has a theme in the library, to expose children to different books. Disability Awareness Week, space and all the holidays have had their chance on highlighted shelves in the library with appropriate decorations. The library became a haunted house for Halloween and a solar system for the space theme.

"The kids are becoming more worldly. They're exposed to the outside world," Whelan said. "If we can give them a little bit to look up into space, it interests them and they want to experience it."

Grade 6 student Cody Greenland agrees. He said he's learned a lot from the themes and the help provided by Whelan in the library.

"It's awesome. The space thing was cool. We imagined how it would be in space," Greenland said. "There's no air, no noise and we learned about satellites."

While one Ontario school board has decided to close school libraries due to declining enrolment, Whelan says libraries will always have a place in schools, even if the way forward is digital.

"Anybody closing a library is going backwards," Whelan said. "We're just getting started and we see the differences a library makes to children."

The library will continue fundraising to bring its book collection up to a modern standard. Its next fundraiser will be an Italian dinner at the Legion on Oct. 8. Whelan hopes people will save the date now.

"Libraries to me are invaluable, they really are," Whelan said. "People can do things online, but to look at a book and read it is a completely different experience."

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