Editorials

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Libraries are the city's living rooms

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 02/6/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

THE City of Winnipeg should make a commitment to keep the city's libraries, particularly the downtown branch, open for longer hours. The initiative should be pursued, not merely because the Millennium Library is open fewer hours per week than most of its counterparts across Canada, but because libraries serve an important social, economic and intellectual purpose.

Libraries, someone once said, are the living rooms of the community. They aren't merely places to rent a book, but special destinations where people gather to relax, talk, share ideas and read. They serve as activity centres for mothers with young children, for scholars, students, professionals and business people, for the lonely and the despondent, and for people who desire healthy and safe social contact.

The Millennium Library is also one of the city's busiest destinations, attracting 1.5 million visitors a year. That's good business for Winnipeg Transit, parkades, restaurants and other services. The library is also a key component of the amenities that make for a vibrant downtown, a key goal of the province and the city.

As it stands, the downtown library is open just 62 hours a week in the winter and 58 hours in the summer, when it is closed Sundays. Currently, it shuts its doors at 5 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. It doesn't open until 10 a.m. Monday to Saturday, and not until 1 p.m. on Sundays.

Those are minimal hours for such an important institution. A better plan would see the doors open at 8 a.m. to serve people on their way to work. Longer hours on weekends would also accommodate families and those who get more entertainment from a library than they do sitting in front of a VLT.

These are not new issues. Back in the 1990s, city hall routinely threatened to close some suburban library branches as a cost-saving measure. Howls of protest resulted in the threats being withdrawn.

The problem is that some civic leaders have tended to regard libraries as an investment without a return, making libraries with weak use ripe for extinction, along with wading pools and other services that were not deemed to be producing sufficient demand from voters.

Attitudes have since changed and civic politicians today are less willing to fight battles over libraries and wading pools. The city's plan to expand the hours of some suburban libraries is a healthy sign, but the generosity should be extended to the Millennium branch, too.

The city does have options to meet the additional costs of longer hours. It could, for example, set up an endowment fund with the $7 million in surplus funds that was to be used to support the development of a new water park, a project that hasn't been able to float. The city could also look at using volunteers. The Winnipeg Airports Authority has made good use of retired citizens who perform volunteer duties that aren't a threat to unionized positions.

The Winnipeg Library Foundation, the group that raised the funds to expand the Millennium branch, should also consider a new campaign to support operating the library beyond the minimum standard.

Our downtown living room is a warm and comfortable place, too good, in fact, not to be open a little longer so more people can snuggle up with a book.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 6, 2010 A18

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