Through the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program, community organizations host free tax clinics where volunteers file tax returns for people with a modest income and a simple tax situation. CVITP volunteers use 9 of our 12 branches as drop-off points for tax returns. To see if you are eligible for this service, check under “eligibility criteria” on this page: About free tax clinics – Canada.ca.

All clinics run at the following branches are by appointment only. Call or email your local clinic volunteer to schedule an appointment:

• Alice Munro Branch, Wingham: Friday, 10 a.m.– 4 p.m. Year-Round
  Fred Vander Sterre, phone: 519-887-9506 or email: fvandersterre@gmail.com
• Bayfield Branch: By Appointment. Year-Round
  Mary Norris, phone: 647-295-8292 or email: mpnorris58@gmail.com
• Blyth Branch: Tuesday, Friday, Saturday, 9 a.m. – 10 a.m. Year-Round
  Fred Vander Sterre, phone: 519-887-9506 or email:  fvandersterre@gmail.com
• Brussels Branch: Saturday 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. Year-Round
  Fred Vander Sterre, phone: 519-887-9506 or email:  fvandersterre@gmail.com
• Clinton Branch: Tuesday, Thursday 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Year-Round
  Mary Lou McGregor, phone: 519-441-2771 or email: bmmcgregor@tcc.on.ca
• Exeter Branch: By Appointment. Year-Round
  Karen Dickins, phone: 519-870-9131 or email: kdickins00@hotmail.com
• Hensall Branch: Tuesday 3 – 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Year-Round
  Lynn Leppington, phone: 519-262-2938 or email: lynnleppington@gmail.com
• Seaforth Branch: Monday, Wednesday, 10 a.m.– 12 p.m. Year-Round                                                           Brenda Adams, phone: 519-525-9485 or email: bd.adams@live.com
• Zurich Branch: Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Year-Round
  Sally Desjardine, phone: 519-236-4509 or email: sally.desjardine@hotmail.com

Thank you to the Social Research and Planning Council of United Way Perth-Huron for Tax Clinic volunteer coordination.

Calling all crafters! Love crafting and love seeing others enjoy what you make? Join the Spring Craft Swap where you will be partnered with another crafter in Huron County!

Make your partner a custom craft, while they do the same for you! All crafting mediums welcome – knitting, crocheting, sewing, candle making, pottery, scrapbooking, needlefelting, etc. The sky is the limit!

Guidelines: We ask that you craft TWO small items or ONE medium sized item.

• Medium = A scarf, a wallet, a set of notecards (4), a reusable shopping bag
• Small = A piece of jewelry, a bookmark, a washcloth, a facemask, a small candle

Please note that a library staff person will be in touch with you between March 24-28 to assign your partner. You will have from March 29-April 29 to craft. Please drop your completed craft off to your local Huron County Library branch between April 30-May 6 (or earlier). You will receive the craft from your partner soon after. A library staff person will send email reminders along the way. Please ensure that crafts do not exceed the size of a standard tote box (28” x 17” x 15″).

*Should a partner not complete a craft, an alternate partner will be arranged. Should multiple partners not complete a craft, individuals may be paired with one another. Pre-completed crafts will be used in reassignments (no need to make an entirely new craft!).

Important Dates:

• Registration: March 2-23
• Partner Assigned: March 24-28
• Crafting: March 29-April 29
• Craft Due: April30-May 6

Registration: Spring Craft Swap registration

Need some inspiration? Explore our online catalogue for a wide variety of crafty books or explore Creativebug, an online resource that offers online craft workshops for free with a Huron County Library card!

Today, the Huron County Library’s Exeter Branch is located on the Main Street of Exeter, right downtown alongside the Town Hall. But it wasn’t always so.

Way back in 1878, a location called Taman’s Store, which was located on a different lot on Main Street, housed Exeter’s earliest library. However, it was not called the Exeter Library – it was called the Exeter Mechanics’ Institute.

That’s right. A Mechanics’ Institute.

First established in England during the 1820s, Mechanics’ Institutes began as voluntary associations of working men seeking self-improvement through education. The community-based institutes offered evening lectures, lending libraries and periodical reading rooms.

So, in 1878, the Exeter Mechanics Institute operated the town’s first library. Ten years later, in 1888, the library was moved to the two lower rooms of Exeter’s Town Hall.

Around 1912, there were talks about moving the library once again. You see, there was this multi-millionaire from Scotland named Andrew Carnegie who, ever since 1901, had been generously offering to grant money to many different communities in order to build libraries. All a community had to do was submit a proposal for approval, find an appropriate piece of land, and guarantee that 10 per cent of the grant would be spent annually on the library’s maintenance. In the end, Canada was awarded 125 grants for Carnegie libraries, and the very first one to open was in 1903 in Chatham, ON. Most were built in Ontario, but there were four built in Manitoba, three in Alberta and British Columbia, two in Saskatchewan, one in New Brunswick, and one in the Yukon Territory. There were 2,509 Carnegie libraries built worldwide, with most being built in the U.S. and Great Britain. As far as I know, no other multi-millionaire has ever given away so much money in order to build libraries.

That interesting tangent aside, Exeter was looking into building a Carnegie library, and in 1912, this was commonplace in Huron County. By then, two other communities in the County already had their Carnegie libraries built, and another was, like Exeter, looking into building one as well. We’ll learn more about these other Huron County Carnegie libraries in future posts.

At the end of 1913, the Exeter Library Board offered a certain Mrs. Bawden $1,100 for her property on Main Street and building commenced shortly thereafter. Altogether, Carnegie granted the library $8,800, and in 1915, the building was completed.

Back in those early years, the basement fulfilled a number of functions. Sometimes it was used as a classroom for the Exeter Public School. During the Second World War, it was used by the Red Cross. It was also used as a reading room, and for “legitimate” business meetings. 

In 1941, the Huron County Library Association was formed and Exeter was one of the libraries in the County that joined right out of the gate. They remained a member until 1952 when they dropped out of the association, only to rejoin in 1958.

Interesting facts

Due to the constraints during World War II, in October 1943, it was decided that the library should be closed on Friday afternoons in order to conserve fuel. Now there’s something we don’t even consider nowadays.

Another interesting thing is that in 1956, a new component was added to the library when it became the storehouse that stored films and a projector for the National Film Board of Canada. Who would have guessed that?

To be sure, the Exeter Library has been used for some unconventional and interesting purposes over the years. 

A new building

In 1993, there were talks about moving the library as the space was proving too small for the community’s needs. One possible idea that was being explored was moving the library to the South Huron District High School. At a public meeting, 87 community members crowded into the space and voiced their opposition to this idea. Here’s a quote from one of the men present.

“Most of us think that’s the most hairbrained scheme we’ve heard. Don’t move it to the high school, it’s asinine.” A nearly unanimous vote was taken opposing the proposed move, and the idea never gained legs.

But the writing was on the wall. By 1999, the decision was made to tear down the old Carnegie library to make way for a new building. Some of the deficiencies mentioned in regards to the Carnegie library were that it was too crowded, that it had no fully accessible entrance, and that it needed major renovations to bring it up to code.

At the beginning of 2000, Exeter Town Council announced the hiring of an architect to design the new library building. Sadly, the Carnegie library that had stood since 1915 was demolished in September 2000, and the library was moved to its temporary quarters in the former Canadian Tire building at the south end of Exeter. The new library was built at a cost of just over 1.4 million dollars and opened on Dec. 7, 2002.

Although the original Carnegie building was replaced, the current building does sit on the same lot. As you’ll see in future posts, keeping the library at the same location for over a 100 years isn’t always easy. Sometimes, things go wrong.

Unpredictable winter weather is a fact of life in Huron County. When conditions worsen and the safety of our visitors and staff becomes a concern, Huron County Library may need to close or adjust hours at any of our 12 locations.

When a branch needs to close due to weather, we will do our best to notify the public as quickly as possible.

Call ahead

During stormy or rapidly changing weather, please contact your local branch before heading out.

For the latest updates, you can also:

• Visit our website. Closure notices will appear on the homepage and in our online catalogue.

• Check our social media. We will share updates on the Huron County Library’s Facebook and Instagram pages.

We understand that weather-related closures can be inconvenient but please know that these decisions are made for the safety of our community and staff. 

Weather impacts on van deliveries

Road closures and unsafe road conditions have an impact on van deliveries between branches. This may delay delivery of your library holds to your local branch. You will receive notifications when your books are ready to be picked up.

Library from home

Even if branches remain open and you don’t feel comfortable venturing out, you can safely enjoy our online resources from home! Access audiobooks, movies, online learning, and so much more!

Winter driving information

Before heading out anywhere this winter, be sure to check the following sites for safety tips, winter driving information, and road conditions:

• County of Huron: https://www.huroncounty.ca/public-works/winter-road-conditions/
• Municipal road information: https://www.municipal511.ca/
• Provincial road information: https://511on.ca/

Calling all crafters! Love crafting and love seeing others enjoy what you make? Join the Fall Craft Swap where you will be partnered with another crafter in Huron County!

Make your partner a custom craft, while they do the same for you! All crafting mediums welcome – knitting, crocheting, sewing, candle making, pottery, scrapbooking, needlefelting, etc. The sky is the limit!

Guidelines: We ask that you craft TWO small items or ONE medium sized item.

• Medium = A scarf, a wallet, a set of notecards (4), a reusable shopping bag
• Small = A piece of jewelry, a bookmark, a washcloth, a facemask, a small candle

Please note that a library staff person will be in touch with you between Sept. 3 and 8 to assign your partner. You will have from Sept. 8 to Oct. 8 to craft. Please drop your completed craft off to your local Huron County Library branch between Oct. 8 and Oct. 14 (or earlier). You will receive the craft from your partner soon after. A library staff person will send email reminders along the way. Please ensure that crafts do not exceed the size of a standard tote box (28” x 17” x 15″).

*Should a partner not complete a craft, an alternate partner will be arranged. Should multiple partners not complete a craft, individuals may be paired with one another. Pre-completed crafts will be used in reassignments (no need to make an entirely new craft!).

Important Dates:

• Registration: Aug. 13 – Sept. 3
• Partner Assigned: Sept. 3-8
• Crafting: Sept. 8-Oct. 8
• Craft Due: Oct. 8-14

Registration: Huron County Library Fall Craft Swap | Huron County Connects (connectedcountyofhuron.ca)

Need some inspiration? Explore our online catalogue for a wide variety of crafty books or explore Creativebug, an online resource that offers online craft workshops for free with a Huron County Library card!  

The Huron County Library is pleased to announce the extensive collection of genealogical materials from the Ontario Genealogical Society – Huron Branch has been relocated to the Huron County Library’s Seaforth Branch.

This important collection includes:

• local family histories
• cemetery records
• census information
• church records
• other historical resources essential to those researching their Huron County roots.

Once housed at the log cabin at the Huron County Museum, the move to the Seaforth Branch ensures improved accessibility, preservation, and integration with the library’s existing local history resources.

The collection is available for in-person research at the Seaforth Branch only. OGS members will continue to be the main point of contact for the collection, providing volunteer support for research requests. Researchers can arrange appointments to meet volunteers during regular branch hours of operation by emailing huronchair@ogs.on.ca. Materials are for in-branch use only.

For more information about this collection and other local history and genealogical research materials available through the Huron County Library, visit: https://www.huroncountylibrary.ca/special-collections/