Public libraries and their critical
financial situation

Fiscal restraint, restructuring, and implementing efficiencies of operations are hallmarks of the 1990s. In this environment all public sectors of society are spending less money, including public libraries.

In Canada, public libraries have been downsizing and budgets have been cut significantly.

• Statistics Canada reports that "Although current dollar expenditures continue to show some modest growth, in constant price terms expenditure peaked in 1989-1990 and has been slowly declining each year since" (Government Expenditure on Culture,
  1994, p. 8)

• at the Winnipeg Public Library, "The total Libraries Department budget has declined from $13.2 million in 1992 to $12.7 million in 1995" (Winnipeg Public Library, 1996, p.26)

• after taking inflation into account, Metro Toronto, Richmond, B.C.; Edmonton, Victoria, Winnipeg, and East York are all receiving less revenue per capita from municipal governments than they did in 1981. Laval, Markham, Nepean, Oakville, St. John's, Vaughan, and Gloucester meanwhile have received no increase over 1981 municipal funding rates. (CALUPL Ranking Tables, 1993, p.23)

• a look at the budgets of the 38 CALUPL libraries reveals that 34 of them are receiving less revenue from provincial governments than they did in 1981 (CALUPL Ranking Tables, 1993, p.23-24).

Budget reductions have been felt in a number of areas.

Reductions in materials expenditure budget

• the Halifax City Regional Library had its book budget cut to $534,100, it was $808,500 in 1990 (Quill & Quire, Oct 1992, p.14)

• the Toronto Public Library system lost 30% of its materials expenditure budget in 1992. This has led to a situation where "in the old days 20 copies of a new title would go into 20 different branches, now one or two copies do the job for the whole city... Our browsing function is being eroded" (Govier, 1995, p. A27)

Similar budget cuts have been experienced across the country, and continue to this day. This has a profoundly negative impact on many retail sectors, especially on the publishing industry.

• "the inability for libraries to purchase materials in Canada will ultimately put some Canadian publishing companies out of business" (Canadian Publishers' Council, 1996, p.1)

• This is echoed by booksellers from around the world who record that "Underfunding of schools and libraries... leading to a decline of school and library business" is a serious problem. (Graham, 1994, p.212)

Acquisitions are not limited to books, thus there is a parallel effect felt by retail sectors which sell magazines, CD-ROMS, videos, computer software, talking books and audio cassettes to public libraries.

The reality of reduced library expenditures results in fewer books purchased, fewer periodical subscriptions and reduced audio-visual and electronic collections in communities across the country. This jeopardizes the quality of service public libraries can offer and has serious economic repercussions for Canada's cultural industries.

Reductions in staffing levels

• the Metro Toronto Reference Library "is working with almost 25% fewer employees than in 1992" (Boyle 1995, p.A)

• at the Winnipeg Public Library, "staff has shrunk from 495 to 368 since 1990" (Martin, 1995, p. A11)

Budget reductions that result in staff layoffs have continued since the publication of these statistics. The cutbacks are detrimental to the maintenance of high quality service in public libraries since the expertise of staff, particularly professional librarians, is key to good library service, from the selection of library materials to assisting the public in the use of the library.

• "Because of experience and educational background, library staff have the skills needed to assist the public to access information including access through technology" (Cultural Partnerships Branch, 1996, p.26)

• 22.6% of all visits to the library included "asking a librarian to help in finding information" (Griffiths and King, 1994, p. 94)

• in Nova Scotia, "The importance of library staff is demonstrated in that current library users made high use of library staff for assistance in finding information (76% of all current users). Moreover, they were very satisfied with the services they received, supplying a mean score of 4.7 on the five-point satisfaction scale" (Omnifacts, 1996, p. iv)

While automation and technology have provided opportunities for more efficient and streamlined workplaces, there is a concern that continued erosion in the number of employed professional librarians and other library staff due to continued downsizing brought about by budget reductions will be detrimental to the success of users finding needed information.

Reductions of service hours

• in Saint John, New Brunswick, "library hours were cut back 13 hours per week, per branch, this year" (Quill & Quire, Oct 1992, p.14)

• in 1990, the Winnipeg Public Library "reduced its hours, closing 15 neighbourhood and community branches all day Wednesday" (Winnipeg Public Library, 1996, p.22)

Reducing the hours that libraries are open limits the access that Canadians have to the information which public libraries collect and disseminate, and the services they provide.

A look at the context in which cuts to public libraries are occurring presents an alarming picture. Canadian public libraries are facing increased demands in conjunction with diminishing budgets.

Inflation of materials costs and new technology costs

While inflation in Canada has been relatively low in recent years, libraries have experienced increased costs, As the cost of paper increased so too did the costs to libraries. At the same time, the high costs of implementing and maintaining new

technologies provide further challenges to the provision of public library service in the 1990s.

• a study of the costs of periodical titles commonly found in Canadian libraries revealed that "Whereas the year-over-year increase in the Consumer Price index is only 1.3%... the percentage increase in the Periodical Price index is 10.5, being 8.1 times the 1994 annual rate of inflation" (Davies et al., 1994, p.11)

When the federal government announced that the GST on print materials would be reimbursed to libraries, effective October 23, 1996, library managers were greatly relieved, as the imposition of the tax in 1992 immediately reduced the buying power of libraries across the country.

• the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax on reading materials drove prices up and consequently "harmed our publishers, bookstores, libraries, students and writers" (Don't Tax Reading Coalition, 1995)

Incorporating the costs of technology into already strained operating/capital budgets is a reality faced by libraries across the country.

• many journal articles record the fact that "Libraries face a new budgetary challenge: how to finance the critical need to link their communities with a proliferating electronic world" (St. Lifer et al. 1996, p.40)

• large urban public libraries in Canada spent well over $1 million on electronic materials in 1995 (CALUPL Annual Statistics, 1995, p.8)

The combination of limited funding, increased service demands, and higher materials and technology costs places public libraries in a precarious situation.

The reduction of a library's budget has an impact more profound than a simple decrease in the number of items acquired at that library. Budget reductions affect publishers and vendors, library users, staffing and service levels, service hours and the quality of library collections, and compromise the necessity to add new technologies. At a time when more Canadians than ever need and use public library services, budget cuts threaten the staff and services that users require for success in their day-to-day lives.