The Dora Drinkwater Community Library has around 5,000 books, including an excellent selection of Canadiana and a section devoted to local authors. Books may be taken out for two weeks at a time (although special additions, such as titles by authors featured at the annual DI Readers and Writers Festival, are offered on a "fast read" period of seven days). The Library is run by a committee of volun
teers. It acquires books by three means:
- direct purchase of new volumes
- purchase by the myriad friends of the Library
- donations of used books
Donated used books are catalogued and incorporated into the library's collection. If they cannot be accommodated due to space limitations or duplication, they are added to the small but active 'books for sale' section or transferred to the Free Store and/or other used book venues. The library receives assistance from the Comox Valley Regional District Grant-in-Aid program and from private donors who have supported the library for a number of years. With the addition of proceeds from book sales, 'late return' donations, and the bottle depot, the library's operating budget reaches nearly $1,000 per year. Space in the Community Hall is provided by the Denman Island Recreation Commission Society. The library is named for a woman who moved to Denman Island in 1947 with her husband, Joe. Dora had always loved books and she read those she brought from the Lower Mainland (mostly classics) not only to herself, but to her children. Later, the school left books at Dora’s home during the summer holidays, mostly children’s books, but also a few for adults. Islanders borrowed these books under Dora’s care and thus was the first Denman library born.
