End of interlibrary loan service to have 'significant impact' on Bruce County Libraries

Story updated April 27 with comments from MPP Thompson and Bruce County Library board chair Luke Charbonneau

The end of the interlibrary loan program will have a serious impact on services currently provided by Bruce County Public Library, according to assistant director Brooke McLean.

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The interlibrary loan and delivery program, which allows patrons to obtain books from libraries outside Bruce County, will cease April 26. The end of the program follows a 50 per cent cut to the Southern Ontario Library Service’s (SOLS) budget by the Ontario government.

In an April 23 interview, McLean said that the cuts to the interlibrary loan program will be felt especially at rural and smaller libraries because they don’t have large collections like in urban centres and rely on loans to meet their patrons’ needs.

“It’s very seldom that we’re not able to get something through interlibrary loan,” she said. “Without an interlibrary loan service, without being able to get those materials delivered, that’s a significant impact on the day-to-day services that our public libraries provide.”

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McLean said that last year 5,925 titles were brought into Bruce County Library through the loan program, an average of 493 per month. So far this year, she said the average has been higher across the systems’ 17 branches.

For the past two years the province has provided an operating budget of $3.3 million to the SOLS, which also provides services to libraries in nearly 200 municipalities including staff training, electronic library materials and policy guidance.

In an April 18 statement, SOLS CEO Barbara Franchetto acknowledged that the cancellation of the loan service was “sad and disappointing news” but that that organization was left with no choice “given the enormity of the cut to our operating budget.”

The end of the interloan program also means 24 SOLS drivers will lose their jobs and all pending requests for books will be cancelled.

According to the release, the drivers travelled nearly 1 million kilometres, and delivered more than 710,000 packages to 153 main libraries in Southern Ontario.

In an April 18 statement, Michael Tibollo, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport that oversees Ontario’s library system, said that the government is “maintaining the base funding for our libraries across the province” and that the SOLS has no involvement in the daily operations of Ontario’s public libraries.

“This government will continue to maintain strong partnerships with municipal and Indigenous libraries and assist them in providing quality public services for everyone, while ensuring value for money and respect for taxpayer dollars,” the statement said.

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Cassie Wood, who is the supervisor of the Lucknow and Ripley public libraries, said on Tuesday that some patrons have not reacted well to news of the interloan service ending.

“It’s not been a welcomed decision by our patrons, unfortunately,” Wood said. “So we’re just trying to find ways to fill those needs that they still have as best we can.”

She also said libraries are “really resilient places” that make the most of what they have.

“Of course we will feel the SOLS’ absence but I think we will also be able to find other ways to satisfy people’s recreational and informational needs. We have to.”

McLean said that Bruce County Library will be evaluating how it get materials into patrons’ hands and may look at building collections in order to “fill some of the gaps” left by loss of the interloan program.

“I hope that people don’t feel that we’re offering a lesser service,” she said. “We are still very committed and confident that we can offer exceptional service to the patrons of Bruce County.”

Saugeen Shores mayor Luke Charbonneau, chair of the Bruce County Public Library board, said he is disappointed about the loss of the program.

“It’s a shame for everybody who is a user of the library to see a reduced level of service and I know many folks in Bruce County are upset about it and are sorry to see the service go,” he said.

In an April 26 interview, Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson said that it’s her job to listen to concerns in the riding and bring them back to the government and “make sure that they put that rural lens down on the policy and see if there is any way of tweaking it.”

“There’s every opportunity to make sure that the impact in rural Ontario is going to he heard,” Thompson said. “And where we go from there, we’ll see what we can do in committee.”

With file from Denis Langlois 

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