Four months ago I decided to make a drastic change in my life, the result of that change being that I picked up and left the comfort of my status as a resident of Southern Ontario and moved to Thunder Bay. On top of the stresses of packing, making arrangements to transport my belongings, and trying to find a place to live when I arrived I was uncertain about how to change my address, notify the proper government offices about my move, or how to start getting to know my new home once I got here. Now that I’ve had some time to adjust and get settled I thought what better use of this space than to talk about the trials and tribulation of moving!Anyone who has recently moved or is currently in the process of moving will know what I’m getting at. No matter how organized you think you are there will always be some little detail that goes unnoticed. In this aspect, the Library may not be the first place you think of to look for information or guidance but it can turn out to play a key role in your preparations. As a new member of the library community I was lucky in that it was the first place I turned to try and find information about the city and its services.
The Library has books and access to different kinds of resources that can help make your move easier and less conf
using. First, the Library has books that can help make sense of things, both for adults and children. To ease the strain of moving young children or teens, take a look at Big Ernie’s New Home: A Story For Young Children Who Are Moving, or The Teenager’s Survival Guide To Moving. To ease the strain on yourself upon arriving in your new home, try sitting down with Leslie Levine’s Will This Place Ever Feel Like Home? These books will help address the emotional and practical aspects of moving, including how to maintain old friendships, make new ones, and how to adapt to a new school or community.If having even more books lying around while you’re trying to move is enough to make you scream, you could look into the wide assortment of online resources available to you. The community page of the Library website will guide you to information on life and community activity in Thunder Bay, with a focus on healthcare, education, local government, sports, tourism, and culture. Of particular interest here is the section dedicated to newcomers to the Thunder Bay area, which will set you up to know how to use sites such as settlement.org and Service Ontario. Settlement.org is particularly useful for those who are new to Ontario. This site provides useful information about employment opportunities for newcomers, how to find housing and accommodations in Ontario communities, ESL classes, healthcare, legal services, and community/recreation activities in cities and towns across the province.
Alternatively the Library can also help in using the Service Ontario site, which I found to be very helpful once my move was complete and I needed to change the address associated with my driver’s license and health card. Service Ontario offers practical information on how to change your address, apply for a social insurance number, apply for a passport, and many other important life events.
Last but not least is the local newspaper. Not knowing the name of the local paper, I relied on the information available through the Library website to let me know where to look. This led me to the Chronicle Journal, which has proved to be an invaluable resource both leading up to and since my move. I have used the paper to track down ads for apartments, furniture auctions, and community events/attractions. Another local publication that’s worth sitting down with is Superior Outdoors, which provides a look into all the outdoor activity available to us in Northwestern Ontario. So the next time you are taking on a major task such as moving, or anything else for that matter, remember what the Library can do for you.
Jesse Roberts, Reference Services Librarian
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