Fort McMurray’s evacuation provided the opportunity to roll out library service in a rapidly evolving situation. Non-residents are typically excluded from accessing EPL’s digital resources; however, EPL recognized that Fort McMurray residents temporarily living in Edmonton needed access to information and resources. A three month resident membership option was created to provide full access to EPL’s resources. To ensure transportation would not be a barrier in accessing library services, EPL redeployed our fleet of epl2go literacy vans and scheduled community librarian visits to help bring services to displaced families living in the evacuee reception center and in midterm dormitory housing.

Barriers to access were eliminated with the special membership option, creating easy options for evacuees to access EPL resources. Electronic resources were particularly valued by the evacuees as many needed to relocate multiple times during the evacuation period with no way to secure physical belongings. The ability to easily send staff where they were needed most was also key. Epl2go vans jumped into the fray, providing programming, materials, technology, and staff expertise to evacuees of all ages, ensuring access to important information related to the fire and support services, and providing a welcome distraction during a difficult time.

Overall, EPL helped demonstrate to Albertans displaced by the fire that our mission, “We share,” meant that public library service was available to them when they needed it. Within the first few days EPL’s closest community branch served close to 100 customers. In the first seven weeks of the temporary resident program, 660 memberships were issued and over 2,700 items were checked out to qualifying customers. epl2go literacy vans were able to provide 28 visits to the evacuee Reception Centre and to the Midterm Housing Centre over six weeks, reaching 557 people.