Olympic Sponsorship Rules at Library Raise Vancouver’s Eyebrows

January 26, 2010

As the city prepares for the upcoming Winter Olympics, local media—on the lookout for games-related malfeasance—pounced on a request from the Vancouver (B.C.) Public Library administration asking staff to adhere to the sponsorship rules of the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) when holding Olympics-related programming.

A memo (Word file) sent to branch heads and supervisory staff last spring by Marketing and Communications Manager Jean Kavanagh instructs staff to “ensure all equipment/goods meets VANOC’s sponsorship brand requirements for things like food, clothing, merchandise. For example, do not have Pepsi or Dairy Queen sponsor your event. Coke and McDonald’s are the Olympic sponsors.”

The guidelines go on to advise, “If you have a speaker/guest who happens to work for Telus, ensure he/she is not wearing their Telus jacket, as Bell is the official sponsor. If you have rented sound equipment and it is not Panasonic or you can’t get Panasonic, cover the brand name with tape or a cloth. If you are approaching businesses in your area for support and there is a Rona and Home Depot, go to Rona. If there’s only a Home Depot don’t approach them as Rona is the official sponsor. Try other small businesses.”

The Tyee, a Vancouver online publication, reported on the memo January 12, and the story was picked up by the Globe and Mail and the Canadian Press news agency. The Tyee noted that the federal government gave VANOC “considerable powers” to protect the games brand, and that restrictions passed by the city council on unauthorized commercial activity around venues and other Olympics-related areas led to a lawsuit against the city last fall.

However, Kavanagh told American Libraries that the memo, which she described as “speculative,” had been sent to staff to be used “if we get requests [for programs] or do displays.” As it turned out, the rules never came into play: The library only held one program that was tangentially related to the games—the 2009 “One Book, One Vancouver” event was titled “The Host City Reads” and the selections were The Crazy Canucks: Canada’s Legendary Ski Team by Janet Love Morrison and the children’s book The Farm Team by Linda Bailey, about hockey-playing farm animals. Additionally, said Kavanagh, two skating events were attended by the Olympics mascots.

Alex Youngberg, president of the library union CUPE 391, suggested that Kavanagh was “probably being a bit overzealous following the guidelines.” She told AL the memo had raised concerns with staff because “our job is not to monitor who’s sponsoring the programming. We have more important things we should be addressing.”

Kavanagh said that about 70 library staff members will be serving on the Host City Team, which will help out at various Olympics venues. She added that VPL will experience no curtailment in hours or services during the games, although less evening programming might be offered, and she expected that the influx of visitors will swell the library’s attendance figures.

Hosting in Whistler

The Olympics has created far greater library disruption in the town of Whistler, which will host Nordic, alpine skiing, and sliding events: The Whistler Public Library will be closed for five weeks to serve as the Whistler Canada Olympic House, an accredited hosting facility for the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Government of Canada, the Government of British Columbia, and the Resort Municipality of Whistler. A lounge for the nation’s athletes will be located in the building, and it will host receptions and other events.

While the facility is closed to the public, the community will be invited to an open house every Saturday during the games where they can meet Olympic athletes, learn about sports, and enjoy other family-oriented activities and entertainment. The library has encouraged cardholders to check out unlimited books and audiobooks from January 25 to 29; these materials will have a loan period of six weeks, becoming due after the library reopens March 8. However, residents must return all movies, CDs, and magazines before the library closes on January 29.

“There were a lot of factors that went into the decision” to close the library, said Director Lauren Stara, noting that “the municipality is rightfully proud of” the two-year-old, LEED-certified building and wanted to showcase it to visitors from around the world. Other options, such as a partial closure or offering reduced or satellite services, were considered, she told AL, but library staff in Park City, Utah, where the 2002 Winter Olympics were held, told Stara that “locals shunned the library” during the games; most of the usage came from visitors checking their e-mail.

More bothersome to Stara than closing the library for the 17 days of the games is the need to shut down for 13 days beforehand and a week afterward: About half the shelves will be removed and the materials placed in storage, and then new furniture will be brought in and various cosmetic changes made.

Stara said the library had received few complaints about the closure—one written protest and a few informal verbal ones. “For the most part,” she observed, “people are being really understanding.” Doing without library services is only one inconvenience residents will be facing during the games: “Life as we know it is coming to a halt,” Stara observed. “People are having to alter their lifestyle dramatically in every way.”

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