REPORT TO COUNCIL REPORT NUMBER: LIB-002-2019 DEPARTMENT: Clearview Public Library Board MEETING DATE: May 13, 2019 SUBJECT: First Quarter Report 2019 RECOMMENDATION: Be It Resolved, that Council of the Township of Clearview hereby: 1) Receives the Clearview Public Library Board First Quarter Report 2019. BACKGROUND: This report summarizes the activities of the Clearview Public Library in the first quarter of 2019. COMMENTS AND ANALYSIS: Building Project A revised schedule for the project has been distributed, and Bondfield is currently meeting the schedule targets. Programs Program attendance exceeded 2000 in each of these three months. Use of in- library computers, as well as wireless access through patron-owned devices, continue to be the Library’s most used program service. Pre-school programs provided through area schools are also very popular, with February being the busiest month in this period with 429 participants. Clearview Public Library’s Adult Colouring program, which provides participants an opportunity to socialize as well as to achieve mindfulness and reduce anxiety, has been running out of the Stayner Branch and area churches for a number of years. The program has developed a loyal following, but the participants have requested Page 1 of 5 that the program be moved permanently to the library for ease of access to the collection and services and so that there is no confusion about where the program will be held each week. Library staff have thanked the local churches who have generously partnered with us on this program for supporting it over the years. March Break programs included two VanGo programs provided by the MacLaren Art Gallery, as well as a wide variety of in-library programs for all ages geared to the STEM curriculum. The total attendance for these programs was 329. (Schedule 1 – Programs) Circulation Circulation has increased in this quarter over last year. January showed a particularly high spike in database usage which has since leveled off. Of all the many materials Clearview Public Library circulates, books continue to be the most sought after items. Circulation statistics for Talking Books are approximately half the number of circulations of hard and paperback books. (Schedule 2 – Circulation) Revenue In March of 2018, the Library received its contract for service payment from the Township of Mulmur in the amount of $2,440.00. The contractual payments for library services from the Townships of Mulmur and Adjala-Tosorontio have not been received yet this year. The 2018 amount has been removed from the table provided (Schedule 3) to show that although revenue in March 2019 was lower than in 2019, the drop was not significant. (Schedule 3 – Revenue) New Developments in Public Library Service Delivery On April 4th, the County of Simcoe IT Department Head, Henry de Jager, advised CEOs of public libraries in the County that all IT related services provided by the Simcoe County Library Co-operative would be delivered by the County of Simcoe’s IT Department beginning April 8, 2019. This includes the Integrated Library Software that is jointly used by all but 2 public libraries in Simcoe County (Innisfil and Bradford West Gwillimbury), and all eResources (eBooks, eAudioBooks, databases). While the IT Director indicated in his letter that there will be no direct impact on local libraries, there is concern related to timely response to IT service requests and lack of IT staff training on the ILS. The Chief Librarians IT Sub- Committee met on May 1st to discuss this issue and will be forwarding a letter to County Director of IT Henry de Jager requesting clarification of the roles of IT as they relate to those of the County Library Co-operative staff with regards to ILS modules, including circulation, acquisition, and cataloguing, as wells as eResource Page 2 of 5 collection development and distribution, and research and purchase of cutting edge library technologies. Also in April, the Southern Ontario Library Service and Ontario Library Service – North, two Provincial Crown Agencies with a mandate to assist public libraries in the province with the provision of library services, were notified that their funding was being reduced for their current budget year (April 1-March 31) by 50%. As a result, the Executive Director of the Southern Ontario Library Service suspended use of the inter library loan software (VDX) and cut the delivery of inter library loans by courier from SOLS budget. The impact on public libraries across the province is very real. Small, rural and First Nation public libraries, which rely more on this service due to the size of their budgets and collections, will be hardest hit. Last year Clearview Public Library borrowed 1,142 items from other public library systems using SOLS courier system, and loaned 644 items. Switching from a ‘no cost to Clearview Public Library’ delivery service to using Canada Post will certainly have a negative effect on Clearview Public Library’s budget. This decision will also negatively affect First Nation Public Libraries. Clearview Public Library has been partnered with Saugeen First Nation Public Library for many years. Every other month Clearview Public Library ships a box of new materials, that were donated and deemed surplus to our needs, to Saugeen using the SOLS Courier system and Bruce County Public Library’s courier system (box is dropped off at Bruce County Public Library headquarters along with other SOLS shipments and Bruce County Public Library courier drops the box off at the Band Office). Clearview Public Library staff only send materials for which Saugeen’s Chief Librarian has indicated there is a need in her community. Without the SOLS courier this continued assistance to a small First Nation Public Library will be impossible to sustain. Clearview Public Library is only one of a number of public libraries in the province that have this type of partnership with a First Nation Public Library. The Minister in a letter sent to all public library CEO’s has suggested that the decision to eliminate the courier service, and OLS-North’s decision to eliminate reimbursement for inter library loan related postage, are decisions made entirely by the Crown Agencies, not by the government. This is certainly true, but with a cut of this magnitude there does not appear to have been another option open to the Agencies. It is hoped that the inter library loan software will be available again by the end of May. However, without funding for the delivery component of inter library loans only the larger public library systems will be able to finance this service. And one last scary scenario – inter library loan by postage is currently subsidized by Canada Post through the Library Materials Rate (formerly termed the Library Book Rate). Canada Post’s website indicates that a package weighing 1.28kg would cost a library $1.38 for sending and returning. The regular rate would be approximately $30.00. If most of Ontario’s public libraries resort to using this subsidized rate to provide inter library loan service the negative impact on Canada Post’s revenue would be substantial and may initiate a revisit of the entire subsidization program. Page 3 of 5 The following is taken from Canada Post Corporation Summary of the 2014 to 2018 Corporate Plan; Summary of the 2014 Capital Budget, “In 2012, approximately 747,000 shipments of books benefited from the Library Book Rate, which generated $857,000 for Canada Post. The foregone revenue was estimated at almost $9 million. Canada Post receives no appropriation or compensation of any kind from the Government to offset the discounted postage.” The Library Materials Rate has been the subject of hot debate over the past two decades. Its elimination would mean that public, academic and non-profit libraries across the entire country would no longer be able to inter library loan materials at a subsidized postage rate. FINANCIAL IMPACT: This report has no financial impact on the municipality at this time. The Clearview Public Library Board’s next meeting is scheduled for May 21st, 2019 and the potential financial impact to Clearview Public Library as a result of the cut in funding to the Crown Agencies will be on the agenda. REPORT SCHEDULES: Schedule 1 – Programs 3000 2000 2018 1000 2019 0 Schedule 2 – Circulation 50000 40000 30000 20000 2018 10000 2019 0 Page 4 of 5 Schedule 3 – Revenue 2000 1500 2018 1000 2019 500 0 January February March PREPARED BY: Jennifer La Chapelle, CEO on behalf of the Clearview Public Library Board Page 5 of 5 .