Local leaders in Inuvik are taking to the internet to read books for youth as part of Inuvik Centennial Library's "Inuvik Reads" series.
Library services manager Kolin Murray said the library had more than a dozen readers lined up and would be releasing videos periodically throughout the month.
"It's tough to find things for the kids, so a couple of people came up with this idea at the same time," said Murray. "Natasha (Kulikowski) is a great leader and decided that she would offer to read a book for the kids and I said 'Well, if you want to read a book for the kids I'll find out one and we'll get it up on our channel.' She found one of her favourites at home, then recorded herself and uploaded it to a YouTube channel and we started posted them to our Facebook page every couple of days.
"The nice thing about it is these are folks who are already very busy, but they recognize that as community leaders that these services the library provides are services that people are missing."
So far, Murray has been joined by Mayor Natasha Kulikowski, Coun. Dez Loreen, Gwich'in Grand Chief Bobbi Jo Greenland-Morgan and economic and tourism director Jackie Challis have all read their favourite children's books, with many more on the way.
"I've invited all of our town directors, managers, administrators and councillors," said Murray. "We'll keep it up for as long as we can. I can get dozens going and I'm already getting some actual requests, so people are chiming in with favourites."
Murray said it was as much about keeping community spirits up as it was to help people remain connected with the library, which is still offering its resources to residents online.
"We're trying to offer a few more electronic resources than we had before and encourage people to use them, and to contact us to get their cards for that from home," he said. "There's a whole bunch more stories to come and a whole bunch more other ways we're going to try to serve patrons over this transitional period over electronic resources and remote services.
"We hate that the doors are closed but we're going to try the best we can while they are."
Services available online include audio books and music downloads, encyclopaedias and reference centres, e-book services and language programs.
In addition, the library is also providing free colouring books for kids. So far the library has printed a series of books three times and provided crayons along with the books outside the front doors.
Anyone interested in reading a family friendly story should contact Murray at kmurray@inuvik.ca. All the library's electronic resources can be reached at https://www.inuvik.ca/en/getting-active/Library.asp. Videos will be posted to the Caremongering Inuvik Facebook group.
"Any story that's appropriate for all ages will be welcomed. It's primarily a kid's thing, but I think people of all ages are having a bit of a chuckle out of it," said Murray. "It's a nice way for people to get familiar with our town staff and administration. But if anyone wants to read a story, it's an open invitation.
"People are more than welcome to write me and I'll give them some instructions for how to make a video and get it to me on the channel."