It looks like it's going to be a happy ending after all.
What at one point looked like a horror story for local libraries has turned into a fairy tale, after the provincial government confirmed they would be providing funding for 2019/20.
“The Bonnyville Municipal Library is elated to have funding support by the government. In today’s economy more and more people are taking advantage of the services that libraries provide. Services such as WiFi and internet access for free, assistance with resumes and job hunting, book clubs, children’s and teen programming that support literacy and are also recreational. These services are at no additional cost to our community and they really support our community in a healthy way. The funding ensures this will continue," said manager for the Bonnyville Municipal Library Leah Woodford in an email.
Every year, the provincial government provides roughly $88,600 to the Bonnyville library, and $87,000 to the Cold Lake Public Library. However, in the fall, both community services were left wondering whether they would be seeing that money next year.
It wasn't until earlier this month that the government announced they would be financially supporting public libraries across the province to a tune of $37-million.
Both the Cold Lake and Bonnyville libraries are a part the Northern Lights Library System (NLLS), which is made up of 54 municipalities.
Vicky Lefebvre, chair for the NLLS board, said they too rely on provincial dollars.
The NLLS receives about $813,278 every year, based on a population of 173,246. This doesn't include the over $340,000 they are given through a rural services grant.
“The funding is important to rural communities because not all rural areas have the privilege of being connected through high-speed internet and libraries bring that to people at no additional cost to the public," noted Woodford.
Leslie Price, director of the Cold Lake Public Library, said, "There's a lot we couldn't do without it like our programming. A lot of it goes to our operating costs, such as staff salaries, almost everything you see actually. Without it, we would have to pull back on programming on staff, and we would have to re-evaluate our services."
Through a $160,000 indigenous grant provided to the NLLS by the province, the Cold Lake library receives additional money for their first nations and métis programming, such as the Pop-Up Library. Price said they were glad to hear this was another area that would continue to see financial support.
"We were holding our breath on that one too," she added. "We're thrilled about that, because our program is growing and growing, and the main idea of that program was to reach out and go to those who can't come to the library, but also to make them feel like this is their library too."
Another way libraries are benefiting from Alberta government dollars is through their inter-library loans.
Woodford explained, "Inter-library loans are an example of how all libraries can share resources. If a patron wanted a novel that our library didn’t have, they can put it on a loan request from a library that does, and that novel would be sent to the patrons’ library for pick up. The funding equalizes that sharing of resources so that all people have all access to what libraries provide. The funding also supports the library, in that, it is a comfortable place for people to gather at no cost to themselves regardless of their age, orientation, or socioeconomic status and thus creating a place in the community that has diversity and is without barriers.”
"You don't have to have any money and you can travel the world, just by going to the library," Lefebvre expressed.
Local libraries offer more than just a good book, Price noted.
They also have free programs for families, access to computers, and offer e-books for some of their more tech-savvy users, among others.
"We're just really thankful for the support and we're hoping to continually let the government know why we're important to our communities. We would like to become the hub of our community, where anyone and everyone can come for whatever reason they want," concluded Price.
Woodford said, “The library is about the community, the funding impacts what our community has access to and creates an avenue to information to be available when our community needs it; the support in the announcement from Minister Kaycee Madu ensures that our rural residents have the equal access to essential services, information, and library resources. We're grateful and look forward to the community continuing to take advantage of their amazing Bonnyville Municipal Library."
Lefebvre said NLLS is "very happy we received the funding."
"In rural Alberta, libraries are just life savers."
