- by Anne Finlay-Stewart, Editor
Although Bill Walker's office issued a media release earlier today to announce that the Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP is “happy that the inter-library loan program is being restored” effective June 1, the reality is more complex.
Richard Thomas, Chair of the Board of the Owen Sound and North Grey Union Public Library, says his reading of the media release from the Southern Ontario Library Service is that the service as we have known it will not be returning, if Canada Post is delivering the books.
Walker's release goes on to say that no additional funding has been provided by the provincial government – that the “library service organizations identified operational efficiencies to make it happen” and that none of these affected “front line service to customers”.
Thomas apparently respectfully disagrees with the latter.
Thomas' statement to the Owen Sound Hub yesterday explained the possible impacts on our public library.
“Here is a quote from the joint media release from the Southern Ontario Library Service and the Ontario Library Service North regarding the Inter Library Loan service:
“Both library service organizations will provide partial reimbursement to libraries for delivery costs through Canada Post. This will preserve the online system libraries use to coordinate the program, ensuring that this key service continues to reach Ontario communities.”
From my reading of the media release, this means the Inter Library Loan Service as we have known it will not be returning. We will instead be using Canada Post for the delivery of books.
At this point, we don’t know what the subsidy from SOLS will be, but I expect it will be applied to the cost of sending the package. This is the least part of the cost local libraries will bear through this change.
In the past, if half a dozen books were headed to a library, they would be loaded into a canvas bag and delivered by the courier. The staff time was manageable. We had allocated approximately twenty hours each week for ILLO related tasks.
To use Canada Post, each book must be individually packaged. It must be measured and weighed, and the information entered into the Canada Post online portal for costing before it can be sent. It will be a slower, more cumbersome and more costly change to achieve the same end. This will be a full-time job, and we estimate our costs will increase by approximately 75%.
Another impact of the changes to the interlibrary loan service is the shipping cost of new books. In the past, our costs were lower because the company we got books from used the courier. Now we will have to pay the full cost of shipping, and at this point we don’t know what the financial impact will be.
Libraries in Grey and Bruce Counties have used the SOLS courier to move items between the libraries and support a variety of library events and community organizations.
We are trying to carry-on with interlibrary loans, but we are hampered by the lack of information. Some other libraries are leaving the service suspended until the details are worked out and/or they are assured that the Province will be paying the extra costs. If not, it means the Province downloading the cost to local municipalities.
As always, the Owen Sound & North Grey Union Public Library is committed to providing the best possible library service to our communities.”
photo by Sonny Abesamis "Language of the Birds" is a permanent installation by San Francisco artists Brian Goggin and Dorka Keehn.
