Students at the Dalhousie nursing site in Yarmouth can now enjoy a revitalized library that has had new life breathed into it.

Vinson Li, librarian educator at the Yarmouth Regional Hospital tells us it had been decades since the space had been spruced up and made a little more modern.

“The library just really hadn’t had a lot of fresh air breathed into it in the last 10, maybe even 20 years. It had the structure of how it operated like maybe 15 years ago,” says Li.

Li adds, compared to other medical libraries in places like Halifax, it was a bit “behind the times”.

“The purpose of a library space has changed from getting materials, to being a place where you would work and collaborate.”

A long history

The Yarmouth School of Nursing was established in the early 1900’s.

The library has switched locations a few times but now remains in the school.

Li says it was filled with journals and books and then in more recent years there was a desire to modernize the space.

“So, before when it was mostly books and periodicals you would go there. Mainly because that’s how you would access that kind of stuff. Now, it’s a lot more convenient to just go on the computer in your office and access articles through there,” says Li.

The new layout

There are four separate rooms.

One room dedicated to studying, another is a computer lab, and two other rooms are collaborative study rooms with more comfortable seating and a chance to be a little louder.

Because the library is in the nursing school, Li says students don’t even have to leave the building to access the space.

“Sometimes I see nursing students just studying in their pajamas. And I’m like…’good for you’… you’re studying,” says Li.

Li says they wanted to make an environment that looks like it cares and even brough it an artist to help design the space and students have commented on how beautiful it looks.

“We thought about you and literally wanted to make a place that was conducive to your needs.”