Southeast Regional Library (Saskatchewan, Canada) partnered with the South East Sport, Culture, and Recreation District to expand physical-literacy and recreational opportunities by integrating district programming into library services and lending kits.

The partnership started after the district and library identified overlapping goals around physical literacy and community recreation; early efforts focused on coordinating programming and circulatable kits for families to support active play.

Over time the relationship deepened: the partners standardized processes for lending kits, co-hosted events, and consulted each other on which resources to add or update based on community feedback.

Impacts include increased access to physical-literacy resources for families, improved circulation of recreational kits, and greater cross-promotion between the district’s programming and the library’s audiences.

Internationally, this partnership demonstrates a creative way libraries can support physical and cultural wellbeing through equipment lending and joint programming — an approach adaptable to regions globally that want to promote community health through libraries.

Partnership story updated January 9, 2026. This vignette is part of a collection of stories celebrating public library partnerships created to encourage more partnerships between public libraries and a wide-range of partners.