By now you may have heard our announcement that we will no longer be providing Interlibrary Loan (ILLO) or Libraries in Niagara Cooperative (LiNC) services.
This was not a choice or voluntary cutback; rather, the result of the provincial government’s decision to slash the Southern Ontario Library Service (SOLS) budget for the 2019-2020 fiscal year. With such a significant (and devastating) reduction in service, we’re here to explain exactly what this means and where we go from here.
If you’re unfamiliar with the service, SOLS was established in 1989 and is mandated to deliver programs/services on behalf of the Ontario Minister of Tourism, Sport. While they have provided library training including workshops and webinars, First Nation Library advocacy, and access to digital content, our most significant benefit (and the one that is being eliminated entirely) is the interlibrary loan delivery service. Since no single library system can reasonably offer (or afford) all titles their patrons may want access to, this reciprocal borrowing service was established to offer both libraries and their patrons more variety and increased access to information/resource sharing, allowing everyone to use their own book budgets more wisely.
At TPL we offer interlibrary loan services in two main ways. One is the standard Interlibrary Loan option where we can source virtually any material from any library in Ontario. We borrow anywhere from East Gwillimbury to Orillia, Blue Mountains to Bracebridge on a daily basis. Per month, we receive on average 168 searches with 67 material requests. It is one of the cornerstones of our collection service and numerous patrons rely on its existence. It is not merely an issue of choice (though there’s that), but also a question of accessibility for small and rural communities. Which, make no mistake, will be hardest hit.
The second way we offer interlibrary service is through our now year-long participation in Libraries in Niagara Cooperative. This consortium includes Pelham Public Library, Lincoln Public Library, Niagara-on-the-Lake Public Library, Fort Erie Public Library, and Niagara College Libraries. The move toward this cooperative has offered quicker turnaround time for reciprocal materials, allowed all six institutions to join our collections in one large catalogue, and maintained the goal of creating a community of libraries to act as one giant lending institution for patrons in all of these areas. We have a monthly average of 628 items either lent to or borrowed from this system.
What may surprise you is that both services (with particular growth in the latter) were doing exceptionally well. We often assume when services are eliminated and budgets are slashed, that these services were no longer needed or relevant. Quite the opposite. We recently worked with SOLS to establish more delivery dates to help manage the volume we were taking in and sending out. Over the last few months we have increased from a single delivery to three per week. A need for more (not less) funding was consistently expressed to meet the increasing demands. And if you think your library community is reeling from the news (and it is), also consider the SOLS community, the 24 employees (potentially more) that will lose their jobs, and the fact that from the time we all heard the funding announcement to the last driver performing the last route will have been under 10 days.
And the impact does not stop there. In recent years we’ve increased to three regular monthly book club meetings. These meetings are enlightening, engaging, and free. Conversations foster understanding, openness, and community. Rather than borrowing designated book club sets from only local institutions, we pride ourselves on offering an array of different titles, sourced from across the province. This is completely reliant on our interlibrary loan service. While we will happily continue all clubs, the selection, diversity, and content will be extremely limited from what it once was. This is just one of the many direct and sudden impacts of reducing access to resources.
While the provincial government has assured the public that there are no base cuts to Ontario public library funding (and that is true), the elimination of SOLS Interlibrary Loan and Delivery has an enormous and immediate impact on all Ontario public libraries. Consider a retail store that is performing well, stocks a lot of product, and has excellent sales. The store itself and its employees may remain untouched, the business allowed to continue. But now a decision has been made to block a great deal of product from coming in. Options diminish, sales falter. Customers will shop elsewhere, small stores can’t compete and eventually close. Again, small and rural institutions will be hardest hit.
So, what can we do about it? Well, eternal optimists will be hopeful to hear that the Saskatchewan government made (and reversed) a similar move approximately a year ago, restoring 4.8 million dollars in funding after an avalanche of protest. If this in any way affects you (and if you’re a library user, it will), it’s important to express your concern (potential outrage) with your local MPP, sign petitions, and share our ongoing updates. The time to be vocal is now as cutbacks are swift and sudden. Public libraries cannot wait for a change in provincial power.
