The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) says six staff members at the Palliser Regional Library have been laid off due to the Saskatchewan budget.
CUPE Local 9, which represents workers at the Palliser Regional Library, said the staff members from the regional library headquarters and the library had lost 58 per cent of its budget from $687,000 to $285,000. The budget covers books, courier, staffing and building costs.
“I am shocked and appalled that the Sask. Party government is gutting our wonderful regional library system,” Stacey Landin, president of CUPE Local 9, said in a statement.
“Libraries are integral to our society and these cuts will have real life implications for the hundreds of thousands of people who use services every year.”
Jan Smith, director of the Palliser Regional Library and vice-president of the Saskatchewan Information and Library Services Consortium, said the employees are support staff who used to buy the books and get them ready for rural branches and the City of Moose Jaw, plus an employee who works in computer support and courier drivers.
Smith said the drivers used to work three days to pick up books and move them around the province.
“Last year, we moved around 102,000 books just to serve the citizens of Saskatchewan that were coming out of our region to fill holds in Regina, Saskatoon, everywhere,” Smith said.
The province has axed the $1.3 million operating grant to the municipal library systems in Regina and Saskatoon. The seven regional library systems are facing a loss of almost 60 per cent of their funding, about $3.5 million.
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On its website, the Palliser Regional Library has listed the services that will be impacted. This includes a halt to ordering new books, DVDs or magazines, the loss of ability to transfer items between libraries, less digital resources such as e-books and community programming like the summer reading club or book clubs.
Smith said the changes will significantly impact the rural branches as there won’t be any money for new items or a chance to receive items from other branches around the province.
She added people may not have the money to buy e-books or get online. Rural internet may not support all online services, Smith said, and libraries won’t have the funding to buy new e-books.
Right now, the region is trying to have conversations with other libraries about working together to address the cuts.
The Palliser Regional Library has 20 branches throughout south-central Saskatchewan.
According to Smith, none of the rural branches in the Palliser Regional Library are closing, but opening hours will be cut between half an hour to an hour and a half per week, depending on the branch.
Smith said under the Saskatchewan Public Libraries Act, the region can’t charge for library cards or to borrow a book.
The Saskatchewan Public Libraries Act, 1996, does state that “no public library shall charge a fee for borrowing books and other print materials from public libraries by residents of Saskatchewan.”
However, a public library board can charge a fee for borrowing any library materials other than those mentioned above and “providing any other service that is prescribed in the regulations.”
Landin also added that it is shocking the government is cutting services while reducing corporate tax rates. The library is encouraging people to contact their MLAs and have provided a sample letter to MLAs on their website.
The Palliser Regional Library has also started a petition under the Referendum and Plebiscite Act to ask the Minister of Justice to get Saskatchewan voters to ask if the provincial government should maintain its 2016 level of funding for the libraries. Smith said 115,000 signatures are needed.
“We are trying to organize public support for the library systems and to restore this service to the citizens of Saskatchewan, whether they be urban or rural” Smith said.
“They’re saving three-and-a-half million dollars but at the same time, they’re downloading on all the municipalities and RMs.”
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