Hearing it from Len Taylor, the hit to libraries from provincial budget cuts is far worse than the hit the cities are facing.
“As much as I am stunned by what’s happened to municipalities, I am overwhelmed with the stupidity of the province trying to deal with knowledge transfer, with discontinuing funding to libraries,” said Councillor Taylor at Monday’s City of Nort Battleford council meeting.
Taylor, who sits as the city’s representative on the Lakeland Library Region board, reported he had attended an emergency board meeting last week called in response to the provincial budget.
According to Taylor, the library region faces a provincial funding cut of almost 60 per cent.
Taylor said the board has not yet made decisions on how they will deal with the cut. But Lakeland is facing “staff layoffs, selling of equipment including vehicles, closing branch libraries and reducing service hours.”
Taylor added the Saskatchewan Libraries membership “is struggling very, very hard to deal with this.”
“We’ve got a minister who says the province shouldn’t be funding bricks and mortar any more for libraries, that it’s all online,” said Taylor, pointing to provincial Education Minister Don Morgan.
He called that a “foolish way of viewing the transfer of knowledge from one generation to another. ”
Taylor also noted the library movement was in a great deal of turmoil over the news.
“We thought we were caught by surprise with the loss of payments in lieu. Libraries are stunned by a 60 per cent loss in funding,” said Taylor.
Taylor also noted the province might be backtracking a little on the potential loss of the “One Province One Card” system, the interlibrary loan system where books can be accessed and borrowed from anywhere in the province.
“Lakeland Library and others in the province are talking seriously about discarding One Province One Card entirely,” said Taylor.
Taylor now says the minister is suggesting the municipalities should pick up the tab.
“This is a minister who hasn’t been talking with his colleagues in cabinet about the effect of the budget on municipalities.”
As for what is next, Taylor said Lakeland Library has “some plans” but is waiting to see what will happen as the budget process rolls out.
The impact is already being felt elsewhere. Taylor notes one library region in the province is shutting its doors entirely. Others have announced layoffs. Parkland regional library has already laid off eight people and Moose Jaw has laid off six, said Taylor.
Other councillors were also livid. Councillor Greg Lightfoot pointed to more than 270,000 active memberships in the library system.
“Just the scope of that is huge,” said Lightfoot.
Lightfoot repeated a point he made earlier, as he blasted the province for suggesting that municipalities pick up the tab for libraries while the City’s own funding is being cut.
“Shortsightedness, and then asking the municipalities to pick up the cost of that possibly as a way to make sure we don’t lose all this, after they’ve cut our budget …” said Lightfoot. “The audacity. It’s so frustrating.”
Councillor Len Taylor, next to Kent Lindgren, vented at length Monday night about the province’s budget cuts to Lakeland Library region and other libraries across the province. Photo by John Cairns
