Innisfil residents should prepare for service reductions at the town’s libraries, warns the chair of the library board.
“Our analysis shows there will be direct impacts in the form of reduction of service levels to our communities at a time when public libraries will be needed most,” Anne Smith told Innisfil council during a recent meeting.
That was one of her messages as she provided a full overview to town councillors about the changes to library services introduced by the County of Simcoe. In April, the county voted to disband the Simcoe County Library Co-operative and replace it with the new Information Library Service (ILS). Nine of the 11 impacted municipalities have indicated their intention to join the ILS already, with Innisfil and Bradford West Gwillimbury as the remaining holdouts.
And with good reason: the impact of this change is greater to those two municipalities than any other in Simcoe County, as they have the most diverse communities in the county and rely heavily on the shared services the co-operative provided, particularly when it came to multicultural texts.
The co-operative cost the county about $800,000 each year, of which Innisfil was responsible for a little over 13 per cent. Under the ILS, the budget shrinks by about $300,000, which accounts for not only five positions, but also the physical collections budget. The 45,000 titles, including the multilingual collection, the county currently holds will be distributed to member libraries.
“As these items can no longer be supported or maintained by the county’s collections budget, the physical collection will become irrelevant very quickly,” said Erin Scuccimarri, president and CEO of the Innisfil IdeaLAB and Library. “Libraries do not have sufficient space to house these materials and the county will no longer support rotating these collections, placing the workload and the cost on municipal libraries.”
Losing the county’s multilingual collection, in particular, would be “detrimental” to Innisfil residents – particularly new Canadians – Scuccimarri said, as this collection contains books and DVDs in more than 30 different languages spoken by county residents. Budget, space and staffing constraints would prevent Innisfil from housing a similarly robust multilingual collection, she added.
The consultant’s report adopted by the county promised better services and cost savings; that’s not what the Innisfil Library Board has seen. More than that, Smith argued the changes were unnecessary.
“The information we’ve received to date does not demonstrate improvement to library services in the county,” Smith said. “In fact, the structure of the co-operative actually met the goals set forth by the province as part of the regional government review process: efficient allocation of service responsibilities, less duplication of activities at the local level, opportunities for cost savings through the consortium model and effective, responsive service delivery decisions.”
Mayor Lynn Dollin and Deputy Mayor Dan Davidson were among the holdouts at county council, joining their colleagues from Bradford West Gwillimbury, with Dollin saying she and Davidson “did our utmost” to convince their county colleagues to reconsider, including pitching an amendment that would see the issue returned to the county library board for further discussion.
That amendment, and the original motion, were defeated. Dollin, who also sits as deputy warden at county council, and Davidson were among those opposed in a recorded vote.
Dollin noted how not every community has the same relationship Innisfil does with its library and noted how the county considered this a modernization of service, an issue refuted by Smith in her comments to council.
“Not all Simcoe County municipalities have libraries… and many of the communities don’t devote as much time and energy into their library systems as we do,” Dollin said. “Staff at the county were telling them that it would not cost them any more money and all that this was the only library co-operative left in Ontario and that they were modernizing the library system. I think a lot of them thought if… (the regional government service review committee) thought it was a good idea, that we should think it’s a good idea.”
Davidson saw the changes as unnecessary appeasement to the province, calling them a cop-out.
“(Bradford and Innisfil) are getting the largest diverse communities ever in Simcoe County,” Davidson said. “It’s very unfair to our municipalities; it’s very unfair to the new residents that are moving here. … I really feel that we were side shifted by the county. They had to give some kind of reduction in cost to the province and this was the easiest way for them to do it.”
The Innisfil Library Board will provide a formal response to the county regarding the ILS now that the meeting with council has taken place, however Scuccimarri told councillors more questions remain unanswered on the matter now than there were at the beginning of the summer.
— With files from Jessica Owen
