The Burns Lake Public Library is asking the province to launch a task force looking into the needs of rural libraries and to commit more money to library operations. The campaign got a shot in the arm recently as village councillors threw their weight behind the motion.
Funding has stagnated while demand for services has grown, said Burns Lake library director Susan Schienbein, who also sits on the village council. She said that about 80 percent of the library’s budget comes from the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako (RDBN) and the province. Other funding comes from fundraising efforts and grants from sources like the Burns Lake Community Forest.
But while the RDBN has increased its funding to meet rising operating costs, money for libraries has flattened out in B.C. since 2009, said Schienbein. The biggest drivers of increased expenses include acquisitions — including for books, magazines, DVDs, software and subscriptions to online services like ebooks — and the cost of computers and Internet service, she said.
Expectations about libraries are changing, she said, with people seeing them increasingly as community hubs that offer not only reading material but also things like literacy courses. “We have people who sometimes spend all day here because they have nowhere else to go,” said Schienbein.
And since some communities in the region still don’t have high-speed Internet, the library serves as an Internet-access hub. It also provides people with access to films that would otherwise be unavailable, since Burns Lake no longer has a video rental store, Schienbein said.
She added that many library workers earn minimum wage — especially at the libraries run by local associations in small communities, including Burns Lake — meaning that a potential increase in the provincial minimum wage to $15/hour could be difficult for small libraries to absorb without new funding.
The resolution — which village council endorsed in February — is now expected to be endorsed by two larger groups that represent local governments: first the North Central Local Government Association in May, followed by the Union of B.C. Municipalities in September.
The UBCM has received calls for more provincial funding in the past, but the Burns Lake resolution is different because it’s calling for a task force looking into funding for rural libraries, said Schienbein.
After the UBCM endorses the motion, the Minister of Education would be required to make a decision about whether or not to launch the task force. Schienbein said she hopes this will bring more attention to the issue and galvanize support for increased funding.