Do not cut our libraries; Humboldt rallies in support

For Erin Strueby and her two children, the Reid-Thompson Public Library is a special place.

She does not want to lose her library to government cuts, which was why Strueby was out reading at the Rally in Park on April 7. Over 1000 people in 70 communities across Saskatchewan used this day to Drop Everything and Read in protest of library cuts.

Along with speakers from the library board and the City of Humboldt, people were encouraged to spend their time reading as a way of protest.

Cuts to libraries from the provincial budget released on March 22 means a loss of 58 per cent to operating costs across the province and the loss of the One Card, One Library borrowing system.

Patrons had access to materials from across the  province under the system which meant a borrowing catalogue of 3.6 million pieces of material.

Without One Card, One Library, Humboldt and area patrons can only borrow from the Wapiti Regional Library which has only 500,000 items.

So far that has been the only change in the Reid-Thompson Public Library according to Librarian Michael Langhorst.

Public Library board memebr Wanda Tesch says they will also have to wait until the city budget is released before they can be certain on any other changes.

“Some of our funding also comes from the City of Humboldt and they’ve been affected as well.”

For Strueby, her weekly walks with her kids to the library exposes her kids to books and other forms of learning that Strueby may not have in her home.

She wants to raise readers, she says.

“Reading and literacy are fundamental to our society...I want to instill a love of reading in my kids.”

Also attending the rally was the grade seven and eight Humboldt Public School students along with their teachers.

Teacher Robyn Moore brought her kids to show them that they can participate in the democratic process and that they have a voice.

The in-school libraries only touch on a small part of the population and Moore says that promoting literacy within the family is also important.

To fight against the “summer slide” where students read less or stop reading during the summer, the Humboldt Public School takes all of their classes over to the Reid-Thompson Public Library at the end of June to make sure they have free access to reading over the summer.

“We do see kid’s reading levels drop during the summer because they aren’t reading and so that’s an obvious way of tackling that.”

Tesch says it was great to see the students out at the rally because they are the future. They need to learn to stand up as well, she says.

The rally itself was to make sure people stood up and told the government that they are not happy with these cuts, says Tesch. Everyone has a right to an education with libraries being a part of that.

“They’re cutting that freedom of education and once that goes, what’s next?”

In Humboldt alone, 1 in 6 people have a library card and that does not include the number of children who are covered under a parent’s card.

Children are going to be affected but they are not allowed to sign the petition, says Tesch.

And the library is about more than just books, she says, with the summer student teaching people about internet usage, even going out to places outside the library and teaching classes. Borrowing for seniors, the library also has programs in place to make sure people who cannot get into the library can still borrow material.