CommunityCalendars.org

Creating an online community calendar is a way to put many small towns on the map.  It is a user-friendly way to promote a local fall fair, or bring in tourists to sample local cuisine. Promote your organic farmers, or maybe the local bands.

The CommunityCalendars.org software and website hosting is available to public libraries across Ontario free of charge. Other organizations may purchase the software for use on their own servers. Training and software customization services are available on a fee for service basis.

Peterborough has a large, vibrant and highly creative artistic community. The diversity of the organizations has meant that the scheduling and marketing of events was decentralized and fractured. It was necessary to provide a centralized site for residents and visitors alike to find out what events are scheduled and where they are located.

The goal of our project was to design a complete cultural calendar and mapping solution for Peterborough that could be replicated in libraries across the province.

With funding from the Ministry of Culture's 2007 Library Strategic Development Fund, Tekdesk and the Peterborough Public Library developed and implemented an open source calendar. This has greatly helped the community to schedule, showcase and map community and cultural events.

The calendar software is capable of managing and storing event information in such a way that it can easily be shared with different users. Ease of use makes it attractive to a range of users, from groups without a website through organizations with established web presence. An added requirement was functionality for organizations that already maintain a web-based calendar of events and want to retain control of their event information.

To check out the Peterborough Community Calendar go to http://www.communitycalendars.org

If your library or town would like more information or your own community calendar please contact us.