Kevin Berger – Leader Staff
Although the lateness of the 2019 Budget is certainly an inconvenience for libraries who are used to receiving their provincial funding prior to Canada Day, there is no official confirmation that the government is planning to slash half of their operating budget, says Barrhead Public Library director Elaine Dickie.
“I just don’t want people to panic quite yet. We’re not panicking,” she said.
Last week, CBC and Global reported in a statement that had been e-mailed out to public libraries across the province from the Public Library Services Branch within Alberta Municipal Affairs.
The message stated that because Budget 2019 is not expected to receive legislative approval until November, the province would provide libraries 50 per cent of their 2018-2019 operating grant and Indigenous population grants in the next few weeks.
According to Dickie, what normally happens is that libraries submit an annual report to the Public Library Services Branch by the end of February. In turn, the province provides libraries with an operating grant sometime between the start of April and the start of July.
Now, it’s obviously problematic for the Barrhead Public Library and other small branches that they won’t be receiving any grant money until early August, Dickie said.
“We do have a cash balance and we’re using it up quickly. And we do have other supporters — we get money from the town and the county and from (Barrhead Elementary School),” she said. “We’re just asking them to be as prompt as they can be in paying us.”
While they certainly expected the United Conservative Party to implement changes after winning the spring election, Dickie noted this is the first time in the 18 years she has worked at the library that they haven’t received any provincial funding by July 1.
With that in mind, there’s been no indication from the province that they were going to reduce the operating grant allocated to libraries — it’s just going to come much later than usual.
“Nowhere (in that message from the Public Library Services Branch) do they say ‘And prepare yourselves.’ They just said, ‘And more will be released in November.’ So I am believing that that’s going to be the full amount that was owing,” said Dickie.
Since CBC and Global reported on the funding situation facing libraries, Dickie said she has received a number of calls from concerned citizens.
While she has been reassuring people that there’s no reason to panic just yet, she has also suggested contacting the local MLA and emphasizing the need to support libraries.
“I don’t want them to get complacent,” she added. “It never hurts to write your MLA about anything.”
Dickie noted that whenever times are tough financially, “we see an increase in the number of people coming to use the library.”
If the province slashes funding for libraries when their usage goes up, Dickie indicated that it becomes all that more difficult for the library to offer services.
“We love that they come, but we need money to operate. It’s a Catch-22,” she said.
