Library Announces New, Comprehensive San Juan Community Event Calendar
The San Juan Island Library and By Design proudly announce the return of the library’s San Juan Community Event Calendar. The calendar aims to list all community events, including school functions, government hearings and meetings, business events, community fundraisers, church events, movies, theatrical productions, library events, art openings, and sports. It is available on line at http://www.sanjuancalendar.com and through the library’s web site at http://www.sjlib.org. It is literally a one-stop calendar for San Juan Island events.
The calendar accomplishes two important functions: serving as a guide in long range event planning, and offering a comprehensive listing of events on the entire island at a glance. San Juan non-profits, businesses, and individuals will all benefit from having a single agency actively seek out and list upcoming events.
Offering a community event calendar aligns perfectly with the library’s mission as set by a community-based planning committee in 2006. Two directives from the committee include creating a digital forum and providing and maintaining a means of disseminating public information and announcements to community members and guests. “The library is pleased to respond to community established priorities in this way,” said Laura Tretter, library director.
The re-introduction of the calendar harkens back to a similar calendar service the library had long provided but suspended in 2002. During the 1990s, before widespread Internet access and use was common, the library-hosted calendar required the public to submit events for calendar inclusion. Since many people were yet not using the Internet, the resource fell into disuse and was discontinued until now.
So why try again? Representatives of community organizations and several individuals asked the library to coordinate a new, completely inclusive community event calendar. Therefore, the library contracted with By Design to offer this public service. Community members are actively encouraged to submit their own event information, but this new, online calendar will not rely on this as the sole means of gathering event information. Dedicated staff time will ensure the calendar is complete.
As a further service any website can embed the calendar to offer its visitors direct access to event information: this includes businesses like resorts and B&Bs, community and non-profit organizations, and agencies such as Town and County government, and the schools.
For more information contact Laura Tretter at 378-2798 or ltretter@sjlib.org or Ian Byington at 378-7275 or editor@sanjuancalendar.com.
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