Library stymied by lack of resources

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/04/2023 (912 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Public Library is chronically underfunded and understaffed.

In 1987, the provincial government established regulations that set the amount of provincial funding the Winnipeg Public Library (WPL) would receive at 11 per cent of the approved operating budget for WPL, up to a maximum of $1,910,118.

This dollar amount, which was the amount WPL received from the province between at least 2004 to 2008, has been increased by less than one per cent since then, even though inflation in Canada has increased by almost 130 per cent since 1987.

Between 2006 and 2021, the city increased municipal funding for WPL by 23 per cent to $27,152,675 in 2021, though this overall funding increase includes a substantial reduction in municipal funding of nearly $7 million between 2018 and 2019.

However, when compared with other metropolitan public library systems throughout Canada, the City of Winnipeg has paid the lowest per capita amount to fund its public library system.

For comparison, in 2021 the city paid almost a third less per capita than the City of Saskatoon, which has one-third the population of Winnipeg and half the total number of library branches.

Given that the money WPL currently receives from both the province and the city has not come close to keeping up with inflation for several decades, it is no wonder the library system is forced to provide fewer operating hours, coming in below other major metropolitan cities such as Edmonton or Hamilton.

To make matters worse, Winnipeg is home to the only major library system in Canada, outside of Quebec, that is directly operated by the city itself. Almost all other systems, including those in Toronto and Vancouver, are governed by their library boards. While WPL does have a board composed of community members, it is strictly an advisory board to the city and does not have the authority to fund or administrate the library as other boards do.

This structure means the WPL is governed by individuals who do not have the necessary knowledge or expertise to properly understand what, or who, a public library is for.

This became evident in the wake of the city’s decision to decline to fund the Millennium Library’s community connections space or to hire community safety hosts (both of which were passionately and eloquently advocated for by several community organizations during the March 16 Executive Policy Committee meeting regarding the 2023 budget).

Instead, the city has chosen to ignore these pleas from the community for a service that has been proven to work very well in favour of an ambiguous transit safety service that has yet to be formed.

In its preliminary operating and capital budget, the city set various service goal targets for the WPL, such as increasing programming, circulation, and off-site events from previous years. However, the city also made two major decisions regarding the library system’s budget that will negative impact its ability to meet those goals.

First, the city has cut 11 full-time equivalent positions at the WPL, bringing staffing levels to 256 in total, which is below the pre-pandemic staffing level by nearly 20.

The WPL has been struggling to keep branches open the past few years, owing to frequent staff shortages. This means library staff will struggle to meet these targets while still being expected to perform basic duties such as providing public service and planning library programming.

The second major decision is in regards to WPL’s budget for collection development. After receiving recommendations to modify the 2023 budget, the city did restore $100,000 to WPL’s “General Library and Electronic Materials” budget. However, the preliminary budget already intended to slash $144,000 from this line, meaning the WPL collection development budget still suffered a cut in funding this year.

This, on top of the current exchange rate between the Canadian and U.S. dollar (most materials purchased for Canadian library collections are paid for in U.S. money) and high inflation rates, means the WPL will struggle to add materials to its collection that are relevant to the needs of the community.

The city has already set WPL staff up for failure; they have been handicapped by significant cuts to core budgetary lines and forced to do more with less.

The WPL is a public institution that is trusted by the community to provide free and open service to anyone. Unfortunately, this trusted institution is hampered by poor funding at both the municipal and provincial level, an illogical governance structure, and a city council that does not understand its role in the community.

Richard Bee is the director at large — advocacy for the Manitoba Library Association (MLA).