About the library
About Moolmes
Moolmes is a small Canadian knowledge library. We publish practical educational material for everyday life and lifelong learning, organise it so that it can be found, and keep it current. We are not a publisher of opinion, a directory of services, or a source of professional advice. What we hold is explanatory material that a reader can act on without buying anything.
History
The library began in 2019 as a set of printed handouts prepared for a community centre in the Exchange District. The handouts covered a narrow subject — keeping household records — and were written because the material available at the time was either a sales page for a filing product or a general article that stopped before the practical questions started.
Requests for copies came from other centres, then from libraries, then from readers who had been given a photocopy of a photocopy. In 2021 the material was catalogued properly for the first time, with shelf marks and a review schedule, and published online. The classification in use today dates from that catalogue, with two classes added in 2023 when preparedness and caregiving material outgrew the collections they sat in.
The library has published continuously since. As of July 2026 the catalogue holds 412 entries across twelve collections, sixteen printable toolkits and six long-form publications.
First handouts
Household records material written for a single community centre, distributed on paper.
First catalogue
Shelf marks, review schedule and the initial six collections published online.
Two classes added
Preparedness and caregiving separated from the collections that had been holding them.
Reading circles
The community programme begins with four partner libraries in Manitoba.
Long-form series
Six publications in print, and the plain-language reading panel becomes a standing body.
Mission
Our purpose is to make practical knowledge findable and usable. That commits us to four things.
Free at the point of use
Everything in the catalogue can be read, printed and reused for non-commercial learning without payment, registration or the surrender of personal information.
Organised, not merely available
Material is classified, cross-referenced and indexed. A resource that cannot be found is not a resource.
Honest about limits
Where evidence is weak, contested or local, we say so. Where a reader needs a professional or an official source, we say that too, and name the kind of source to look for.
Maintained
Entries are reviewed on a schedule, corrections are made in public, and superseded versions remain available so that readers can see what changed.
Editorial standards
Every entry in the catalogue is written to the same standards, whether it is a one-page checklist or a thirty-thousand-word publication.
- Scope before drafting. Each entry begins with a written scope: what it covers, who it is for, and what it deliberately leaves out. Entries that drift outside their scope are split rather than extended.
- Plain language. Sentences are short, terms are defined at first use, and instructions are written in the order they are carried out. We do not use a word that sends the reader to a dictionary when a common word carries the same meaning.
- No product recommendations. We describe categories of tool and the questions to ask about them. We do not name brands, accept sponsorship, carry advertising, or use affiliate links.
- Attribution of official guidance. Where an entry summarises material issued by a public body, it says which body, states when it was checked, and directs the reader to the source for current instructions rather than reproducing it.
- Stated uncertainty. Where the underlying evidence is thin or disputed, the entry says so in the text, not in a footnote.
- Boundaries. We do not give legal, financial, medical or clinical advice. Entries touching these areas explain how something works and what to ask a qualified professional.
Content review process
A draft passes through four stages before it appears in the catalogue. The stages are separate on purpose: a reader checking accuracy is not the right person to judge clarity, and neither should be the person who wrote the draft.
| Stage | Carried out by | Checks |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Scope review | Editor and one contributor | Is the subject within the catalogue's remit? Is the boundary clear? Does an entry already cover it? |
| 2. Accuracy review | Subject reader | Are the claims correct? Are cited public sources current? Are limits and exceptions stated? |
| 3. Clarity review | Plain-language panel | Can a reader unfamiliar with the subject follow it once? Anything read twice is marked. |
| 4. Catalogue review | Editor | Shelf mark, cross-references, index headings, reading time, and the review date. |
After publication, entries are reviewed twice a year. Corrections of fact are made as soon as they are confirmed and recorded in a revision note on the entry itself. Material revisions increment the version and state what changed. Nothing is edited silently.
Reporting an error. If you find a mistake, write to info@moolmes.club with the shelf mark and, if possible, the source that corrects it. Every report receives a reply, including reports we cannot act on.
Contributors
The library is run by a small permanent desk and a larger group of volunteer readers and facilitators. Contributors are credited on the entries they work on unless they ask not to be.
Editorial desk
Four staff covering commissioning, editing, cataloguing and the community programme. The desk answers reference enquiries and is responsible for every published entry.
Subject readers
Eleven volunteers with working knowledge of a subject area — municipal administration, adult education, food safety, records management — who check drafts for accuracy.
Plain-language panel
Nineteen readers who mark anything they had to read twice. The panel deliberately includes readers who are new to each subject.
Facilitators
Volunteers who run reading circles, drop-ins and clinics with partner organisations across Manitoba.
Partner organisations
Municipal libraries, neighbourhood associations, community centres and settlement organisations that host sessions and tell us what readers actually ask for.
Readers
Corrections, local variations and new worksheets proposed by people using the material. See the submission guidance.
How the library is funded
Moolmes is funded by programme grants from public and charitable bodies, by fees paid by partner organisations for facilitated sessions, and by donations from individuals. It carries no advertising, accepts no sponsored content, and has no commercial relationship with any product mentioned in a category description. Where a grant funds a specific publication, that fact is stated on the publication.