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Regional Library reviews SILS program at its AGM

The Southeast Regional Library had its annual general meeting on April 9.



The Southeast Regional Library had its annual general meeting on April 9. Highlights included reports by chairperson Ken Sutherland and library director Allan Johnson, including detailing significant changes for the Southeast Regional Library last year with the implementation of the Saskatchewan Information and Library Services (SILS) consortium.

"As part of the public library's legislated mandate, Southeast Regional Library participates in the Saskatchewan-wide public library system," said Sutherland. "There were significant benefits for the Southeast Regional Library, as we took a leading role in implementing the SILS consortium."

The province has committed to provide over $4 million in funding to assist the SILS project over a four-year period. Each public library systems in the province has joined together to provide the additional funding that will be required to make this effort a reality.

The "go-live" date for the new SILS computer system was Jan. 12, 2010. "Much effort went into converting to the new SILS system with a focus on training and support for branch library staff, as they implemented the new SILS system at the branch level," said Johnson.

The region provided the final training package to staff in 2010 in preparation for the move to the new SILS system. Following the launch of the new computer system, one-on-one training was provided to staff as they became familiar with the new computer system and the changes in equipment and services.

One challenge that was faced in 2010 was that the Southeast Regional Library did not fare well when salaries and staffing levels were compared to other levels within the province's public libraries. "The final report of the committee has been presented to government and action is needed if we are to be competitive in attracting and retaining the staff necessary to run our regional library system and provide good solid public library services," said Sutherland.

Provincial funding for regional libraries has failed to keep up with inflation and has averaged about one per cent per year, over the past 18 years. "With this tight funding environment, the SILS funding from the province is appreciated, but the best computer infrastructure in the world is useless without the funding to maintain library operations and support public library services," said Sutherland.

The focus of collection development in 2010 for the Southeast Regional Library was on expanding media and electronic resources. The core spoken-word CD collection was completed and the resources are being well received and are being used. The most fundamental collection development shift was to the development of a core collection of downloadable books.

A unique sharing and cooperation framework for public libraries involves a province-wide record of library resources that library users can access, record of users that is shared between libraries when providing services, a set of common library policies and procedures, and a universal public library card.

For more information on the annual general meeting, or for the complete reports by the chair and library director, residents can view the online documents by accessing the Southeast Regional Library's website.