Powell River Public Library has a proposed operating budget in 2025 of $1.75 million, City of Powell River councillors were told.
At the December 3 committee of the whole meeting, chief librarian Rebecca Burbank provided a presentation, requesting $1,077,820 from the city. Burbank had previously made a presentation to qathet Regional District, where the request from the library was for $483,757. Both totals are for a 6.7 per cent increase in funding.
In her presentation, Burbank said she wanted to share some successes and stories from the past year. She said she also wanted to express gratitude for the support from local governments, which allows the library staff to do its “amazing work.”
Burbank said the first topic she wanted to broach was accessibility, which is something libraries talk a lot about.
“A lot of the work we do is aimed at improving access for people to library resources,” said Burbank. “We have a new accessibility plan that the library is working within.”
Burbank said the library’s large print collection circulation has increased by eight per cent and there is a variety of audio collections. She said the library also offers one-on-one tech support for people in the community who may have an iPad or computer or a new e-reader that they don’t know how to use fully.
“They can come and get support at their own pace so they can use their own devices and access library resources on their own time,” said Burbank.
She said libraries make life more affordable by providing services such as after-school programming, which parents and families rely on, and they don’t have to decide on whether they can afford an after-school program or a sports program. There is no charge for programs, services or materials, according to Burbank. She added the library offers home delivery services for patrons who can’t access the library.
The digital library is an important component of the library and it has continued to grow over the years.
“During the pandemic, we saw the use of digital resources going up and it has just continued to climb,” said Burbank. “The use of digital collections to the end of September was a 19 per cent rise over last year. This is material like e-books, audio books, and e-magazines.”
In terms of library card distribution, there is a total of 9,272 in circulation. The city makes up the largest portion of that, with 6,296 cards, or 68 per cent of the total.
Councillor and committee chair George Doubt said he wanted to reiterate that all councillors think that the provincial government should step up and provide more of the cost of operating libraries because they are a benefit to everybody in the province.
“You do great work and it would be nice if the province stepped up and contributed the money so we didn’t have to keep asking the local taxpayers for more,” said Doubt. “For what the library board and you [Burbank] are doing, thank you very much.”
Councillor Rob Southcott asked if increased costs for the library had something to do with the city’s adjustment of its lease rates bylaws to conform them more to market standards.
Burbank said the lease rates and increases in janitorial costs were a significant part of the increase.
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