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Orti Weich, Library Manager

Yellowhead Regional Library provides services to 303,695 Albertans in 54 municipalities and 10,822 students in three school divisions. Our priority is to provide quality library services to our 43 municipal and 43 school libraries. We continuously strive to be responsive to the needs of our members. 

Our headquarters is located in Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada.

Creating shared value

Yellowhead Regional Library’s (YRL) commitment to its member libraries is an active, ongoing approach that seeks to enrich the collections, resources and services offered to Albertans in the Yellowhead Region.

Simply put, YRL is always growing, learning and sourcing new resources to help make each member library the best it can be.

Find out more

The Regional Automation Consortium

TRAC (The Regional Automation Consortium) is a partnership of Marigold Library System, Northern Lights Library System, Peace Library System, Yellowhead Regional Library, and their member libraries. Using TRACpac you can search a combined catalogue of over 170 libraries with holdings of nearly three million books, DVDs and other material.

TRAC also participates in Alberta-wide borrowing through ME Libraries. Patrons registered through ME Libraries may borrow materials from any TRAC library, subject to local policies and lending periods.

The libraries within TRAC wish to acknowledge Treaty 6, Treaty 7, and Treaty 8 territory, as well as the Métis Nation of Alberta. The TRAC libraries are located on territory that provided a travelling route and home to many Indigenous peoples.

In the 1990s libraries across Alberta faced a number of challenges and opportunities, including the information explosion, the development of new technologies, the emergence of the Internet and a changing government philosophy.

A grassroots response to these challenges led to the creation of The Alberta Library (TAL) in 1997. Internationally recognized for cooperation and collaboration, TAL is a province-wide consortium that now serves 48 member libraries in over 300 locations across the province, including:

• public libraries
• regional library systems
• university libraries
• college, and technical institute libraries
• special libraries

Member libraries work together to take advantage of changing technologies, find creative solutions and seize new opportunities. As a result, Albertans at even the smallest library have access to more than 30 million resources.

Our library contributes to the well-being and health of our community by providing information, supporting literacy and bringing people together. Because of our participation in the Yellowhead Regional Library System, our library is a single point of access to millions of movies, books, CDs, DVDs, events and more.

We can help you find exactly what you are looking for!

• Intellectual Freedom
• Literacy & Lifelong Learning
• Service & Organizational Excellence
• Innovation
• Community Collaboration
• Accessibility & Inclusiveness

Community interest in the library grew as children sometimes took books home for their parents to read. An interested teacher, Sharon Samcoe, first set up the library in 1973. Initially, there was very little money allotted to libraries and most of our funds were raised through teas, bake sales, and raffles. 

The public library grew and always shared space with a school. Initially, it was in the High School which was in Alder Flats at that time. In 1993, the school in Alder Flats became the Elementary School and the Public Library has shared space with the school library ever since.

From 1975 until the late 1980’s, teacher Lois Robinson was the Librarian. She was instrumental in getting support for the library. Arlene Schwengler, another teacher, followed Lois on the job. When Arlene left, the positions of public and school librarian became two, and Ivy Seely took over as the public librarian. Ivy served the community and library well for over seventeen years and retired in 2007.

Other community members served on the library board and as volunteers. Without their dedication and hard work, the library could not have flourished. In 2016, Jean Sargeant, a librarian, volunteer, and Chair of the Library Association, celebrated her 33rd year with the library.

The public and school libraries cooperate to provide service to the community. Currently, there are over 1200 books, numerous DVDs, and audiobooks in the library in Alder Flats. But thanks to computerization which led to our partnership with TRAC (The Regional Automation Consortium), our patrons can now search a combined catalog of over 170 libraries with holdings of nearly three million books, DVDs, and other material! Orders can be placed online from home or from the library and are delivered to our library for pickup. Three public-use computers were installed and access to free high-speed WiFi is available in the library. With a device now in almost every household, the library continues to provide its patrons with services by offering numerous eResources accessed through our library website.

If you served on a previous board or volunteered with the library and are willing to have your name posted in our history blurb, please let us know. Thanks.

Alberta wide borrowing is here! ME Libraries lets you join other public libraries across Alberta and borrow their materials using ONE library card. Make the most of your library card and access more items for free!

If the library material you want to borrow isn't available through the library's online catalogue, you can request material to be brought in from outside of the TRAC system.

Search for and place holds on materials from any participating Alberta Public or Academic Library with the Relais D2D Inter-Library Loan service. 

*Please note that ILLO requests may take significantly longer to fill due to the pandemic.