Ontario 2024 Pre-Budget Consultations and Public Libraries
January 16, 2024
In December and January, representatives from the Ontario library community appeared before the Legislative Assembly of Ontario’s Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs as part of the committee’s public hearings on pre-budget consultations 2024.
The committee heard from:
- December 14, 2023
- Todd Kyle representing the Brampton Library
- January 9, 2024
- Michelle Arbuckle representing the Ontario Library Association
- January 10, 2024
- Dina Stevens representing the Federation of Ontario Public Libraries
- Paul Takala representing the Hamilton Public Library
- Lita Barrie representing the Burlington Public Library, the Federation of Ontario Public Libraries, and the Ontario Library Association
- January 11, 2024
- Cathy Simpson representing the Niagara-on-the-Lake Public Library, the Federation of Ontario Public Libraries, and the Ontario Library Association
- January 17, 2024
- Michael Ciccone representing the London Public Library, the Federation of Ontario Public Libraries, and the Ontario Library Association
Below are extracts from the committee transcripts of their opening remarks and questions and answers with members of the committee.
Todd Kyle (Brampton Library)
Presentation
Mr. Todd Kyle: Thank you to the committee for the opportunity to participate in the pre-budget consultation. My name is Todd Kyle, CEO of the Brampton Library. As a member of the Federation of Ontario Public Libraries, I’m proud to work alongside passionate librarians and library staff who make an impact for millions of regular people across Ontario in communities large and small every day.
Public libraries are critical to communities across Ontario and essential to thriving local economies and economic growth. Millions of Ontarians rely on local public libraries in their communities to work, to learn, to connect to community and government services, and to find and train for a job. For example, in Brampton, we operate the library settlement partnership in many of our branches, and for many immigrants, the library is the first place that they visit when they integrate into their new country.
Many Ontarians, however, are falling through the gaps in terms of depending on public library services. The combined impact of the pandemic, the pressure of inflation on public library and municipal budgets, and growing social and economic challenges in communities across the province have brought public libraries to a critical point.
On behalf of public libraries across Ontario, I, along with the Federation of Ontario Public Libraries, am advocating for critical, targeted investments that will stabilize our public libraries and ensure that all Ontarians, no matter where they live or learn, will continue to have access to modern, cost-effective resources and services that they have come to rely on.
Most immediately and most excitingly, we are seeking to provide critical e-learning support and fair access to modern digital resources to all Ontario public libraries by creating what we would call the Ontario digital public library.
The Ontario government has recognized the crucial importance of public libraries to broadband Internet access recently, making a historic $4.8-million investment to install or upgrade broadband connectivity at over 100 public libraries across the province. However, many Ontario public libraries, particularly in smaller and First Nation communities, struggle to afford and cannot provide the high-quality digital resources that people in their communities need.
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Digital resources are now a highly impactful and accessed part of public library offerings. They provide powerful capabilities, including in-depth job and career skills training, language learning, live tutoring and homework help, health information and resources to support vulnerable residents. These resources are expensive, and they are especially so when purchased on a patchwork, library-by-library basis. Of course, individuals and families cannot afford to subscribe to them on their own.
It has become a story of haves and have-nots. Big urban and suburban libraries can afford a diverse suite of these powerful tools, while many of the northern, rural, small and First Nations public libraries have access to few, if any, such resources. So we are following the lead of other provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan, in asking Ontario to leverage its significant purchasing power to create this provincially funded resource.
We estimate that the Ontario digital public library could provide the same digital resources currently provided at a cost savings of up to 40% when compared to a direct subscription by an average Ontario public library. The annual investment that we are suggesting is $15 million. Through that investment, every Ontarian would have access to a common set of high-quality e-learning and digital resources directly through their local public library, which can be accessed on-site or from the comfort of their home. For hundreds of libraries across Ontario, they would be able to offer digital resources that they could never have afforded to provide before, while our larger public libraries will be able to re-invest tens of thousands of dollars into other urgent local priorities.
Equally, if not more, importantly, we are seeking to implement a sustainable funding model for First Nations public libraries, to ensure that these important local hubs are fully funded and viable. As an immediate first step, we are seeking an investment of $2 million to increase the First Nation Salary Supplement so that existing First Nations public library staff can be fairly compensated for work that they perform.
Public libraries on-reserve, of course, serve as an accessible gathering space and information-sharing resource. They are deeply important to the community to maintain a sense of community and to minimize social isolation, as well as to help confront the systemic social and economic challenges that these communities face. Provincial funding is through the Public Library Operating Grant and mostly the First Nation Salary Supplement grant, which provides an average of $15,000 a year to each of these public libraries on-reserve. Band councils sometimes provide some support for utilities, Internet and phone service, but there is little to no funding available for collections, programming and technology resources.
Many public libraries on-reserve operate with only one staff person, who is expected to provide all of these services and perform all functions, often contributing personally out of their own pocket. This modest investment of $2 million annually would sustainably fund library operations for existing First Nations public libraries and ensure a living income for front-line library service staff in these communities.
Finally, Ontario’s public libraries are continuing to emphasize the need to increase base provincial funding for Ontario’s public libraries, to address critical shared priorities and community needs. Unlike most sectors in Ontario, Ontario’s public libraries have received no increase in public funding from the province for over 25 years. During that time, the value of the province’s—
The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): One minute.
Mr. Todd Kyle: —investment in public libraries has decreased by over 60%. While the majority of public library budgets are municipally supported, the provincial portion of funding is crucial, so in addition to maintaining current provincial operating funding for public libraries, Ontario’s public libraries are proposing a targeted annual investment of $25 million in additional operating funding across all Ontario public libraries.
In conclusion, the partnership between the Ontario government and local public libraries is vital. Providing these critical supports is needed for us to continue to work together to deliver important government services and locally relevant resources.
Thank you, and I welcome the opportunity to answer your questions.
The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): Thank you very much for the presentation.
Questions and Answers
Ms. Stephanie Bowman: Thank you both for being here this morning, and Melody online. I will start with the library—one of my favourite topics, one of my favourite places. We have a government that is spending about $218 billion—record amounts of spending, biggest ever in this province’s history. And yet, this is at least the second year—my second year being on this committee, so the second year in a row that I’ve heard this same request related to a digital public library. I think three times today now we’ve heard about inefficiencies under this government: from health care, around a highest-cost model in our hospitals; we’ve heard about them canceling the efficiency and modernization program in school boards; and now I hear you talk about how we could save 40% of spending or costs by using a digital public library.
So I’m wondering: $15 million, I think, was the ask for the digital public library on a budget of $217 billion. I mean, it’s a very, very small amount. Could you just talk again so that this government understands the impact that a digital public library could have on some of our most underserved communities in particular in this province?
Mr. Todd Kyle: Sure. Thank you very much for your question, and yes, the amount is modest. Public libraries in Ontario pride themselves on being very, very efficient stewards of public funding. I would also just like to point out that the bureaucracy in terms of the creation of this Ontario digital public library does already exist as a provincially funded agency called the Ontario Library Service.
In terms of the impact: For example, in my library in Brampton, we offer, free of charge for home use through our library website, LinkedIn Learning, which is a very, very powerful career development and skills development tool. We offer a homework help program called Brainfuse. We offer a language learning program, including ESL, called Mango Languages. I’ve seen the impact personally in terms of our residents and how powerful those are in terms of bringing no-cost learning, lifelong learning, sometimes formal learning to the communities.
But our message, of course, isn’t that Brampton is struggling to afford these. Our message is that the small, northern, rural, francophone, First Nations public libraries cannot. For them, the cost of subscribing, because it is subscription-based, is beyond their ability, and we think it’s an inequity across the province that not everybody has the same access.
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As I’ve pointed out, there are other provinces in Canada, there are actually states in the US that have done the same thing. Alberta is the best example in Canada. They have an organization called the Alberta Library and it does the same thing: They choose the most valuable resources that everyone should have access to at a minimum, negotiate a bulk price and provide that to everyone.
Mr. Dave Smith: I’m actually going to start with the Brampton Library first. A lot of the things that you talk about are on the digital library side of it. I don’t think that there’s going to be anyone who is going to disagree. There are things that obviously we are taking a look at. What I do want to touch on—and this is some of my own personal experiences with it, and now being the parliamentary assistant to tourism, culture and sport. This is one of those files that has landed on my plate.
What I see as a challenge, and I don’t have a solution to it yet, and I’m hoping that perhaps you can put forward some ideas on it: When we go down the path of a digital subscription for something, it ends up being consecutive licences that are being used. Obviously, you want to maximize what the usage is on all of those things, but we have such a diverse demographic across the province. You mention, in particular, First Nations and rural ridings. I have a First Nation in my riding. I have a number of rural libraries in my riding, and I would hazard to guess—and I’m going to throw a very specific example out: An Ontario Out of Doors magazine subscription, for example, or Deer and Deer Hunting subscriptions would be widely used in Buckhorn, which is a community of about 500, but—and I’m making an assumption—I doubt Brampton is going to use it.
So when we get in to some of those types of challenges, how would you recommend that we do the evaluation on the actual usage? Because you don’t want to find yourself in a position where those larger centres, like Brampton, Toronto, Mississauga, Ottawa and Hamilton, are defining what rural Ontario then has access to. A very strong argument can be made that not very many people are looking at those magazines, not very many people are using those types of subscriptions, so we should be reducing it so that we can increase the subscriptions on the things that are in the urban centres. How would you suggest designing something for the input on it so that we don’t find ourselves in those positions?
Mr. Todd Kyle: Certainly. Thank you very much for the question. I think that in terms of the decisions, there’s a governance model already set up. The Ontario Library Service has represented us from across the province. They have caucuses of different-size libraries. But just to clarify: The Ontario digital public library would not be looking at things at that level, in terms of magazine subscriptions. These are large databases that cover multiple topics; for example, a learning database chosen as a single product for everybody that might contain learning that is relevant to a rural community as well as an urban community.
Mr. Dave Smith: I greatly appreciate that. I used that as a specific example, and I do recognize that.
The subscription models, if I can make an analogy on it, are very similar to the television subscriptions that most people, the general public, would understand. You can buy the basic package from Bell or from Cogeco. You can move up on it, and it adjusts the different types of channels that you see or have access to. These subscription models are very similar to that in terms of simplifying it, which I totally get.
Just, again, it comes down to the concurrent access to it, and what I haven’t seen yet is a model that would allow for enough flexibility on it. I’m going to use another specific example where the Ontario government had a great idea at one point to try to implement something along those lines, and it ended up ultimately failing. That’s OSAPAC, the Ontario student acquisition program for school boards. The concept behind that was, again, the bulk-buying power that the province would have on it, negotiating with different software providers to get licensed software that could be implemented in schools. There was a process by which different boards could submit every year what they felt should be licensed that way. Ultimately, boards chose not to use the licensed software and to go out and do things on their own anyway, and it turned out to be an expensive venture. I describe it as a vast project with a half-vast idea. Learning from that type of experience, that’s where we want to try to avoid some of the challenges.
You also mentioned the equity side of it, and I will 100% agree with you. We’ve started to address some of the digital equity challenges. In particular, $2.7 million was invested in high-speed Internet for a number of the rural, remote and Indigenous library services. We still have a lot of work that has to be done on that. We are working towards having high-speed Internet all across all of Ontario. It’s taking a bit of time. It is a project that is tied in with the federal government as well. Ultimately, it’s not going to be possible to take fibre optic into all of those areas, so we’re looking at other solutions. There was a reverse auction that was put forward for high-speed Internet access through satellite connectivity on it.
If we were to go down the path of having a digital library, but still not having it available, then, to a large geographic portion—not population portion—of it, do you see challenges moving forward with that? Do we do the two things in conjunction, knowing that we’re looking at putting that high-speed connectivity in? It’s not going to be in place tomorrow for a lot of those locations, but we could potentially have the access for the digital library quicker.
Mr. Todd Kyle: I appreciate the question. I do think the two of them do go hand in hand. One is the infrastructure; the other is the content. I think that the Ontario digital public library would go part of the way to serve some of those communities where the existing infrastructure exists, where the libraries themselves have the access—
The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): One minute.
Mr. Todd Kyle: —but, yes, I do think they need to go hand in hand.
Mr. Dave Smith: I apologize to my colleagues; I’ve monopolized the time. I’m going to use the whole seven and a half minutes, then, and let them share the next.
Again, I’m going to come back to the public libraries. We have a number of different programs right now that are yearly grant-based. I understand the frustration for libraries having to apply for these types of grants on a yearly basis. Just in general terms, if we were to turn those programs into an all-encompassing one instead of four or five smaller ones and do it for multi-year, is that something that you’re going to see as a better planning tool for you?
Mr. Todd Kyle: Thank you very much for the question. Yes. That hasn’t been specifically our proposal, but I do think there’s certainly value in that, and we’d be happy to discuss it.
Mr. Dave Smith: Just so I have it on the record: If we had a multi-year program instead of a yearly program, it’s going to be better—
The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): Thank you very much.
Mr. Terence Kernaghan: Thank you to our presenters here today, as well as those arriving with us digitally.
To Mr. Kyle with Brampton Library: I’d like to thank you for presenting here. The committee often sees libraries presenting at committee. In fact, they present year after year after year, but whether or not the government listens is quite another story. It reminds me of the quotation, “Knowing ignorance is strength, but ignoring knowledge is sickness.” It makes one wonder if the government truly cares about libraries. The fact that they have not provided an increase to the operating grant in over 25 years, quite frankly, is shameful.
I think your comments about the Ontario digital resource would be something that makes sense. It would be cost-effective. It would stretch dollars as far as possible and make sure that there’s equity across the board. It’s curious that here we are talking about digital resources and we hear comments about magazines, but I want to thank you for your presentation today.
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MPP Andrea Hazell: Todd, my question for you is—the importance of the library and the operations of libraries everywhere in Ontario. I used the library when I launched my business, coming out of the corporate world, because it’s expensive to launch your business. And I want to say, it’s not just users who are going in that are students, that are seniors. Entrepreneurs and small businesses are also using the library to network, to have meetings. It’s a safe place for us to speak about our business model.
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So my question to you is, can you share the impact the funding would have on your current services if you were able to get funding, and especially your digital library proposal?
Mr. Todd Kyle: Sure. Thank you very much for the question. The impact—
The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): One minute.
Mr. Todd Kyle: Thank you. The impact would be, again, that everyone in Ontario would have access to the same suite of resources, many of which are used, as you pointed out, by entrepreneurs and people wishing to improve their skills in the job market. In the case of a library like mine, where it would free up funding for other things, it would allow us to provide better spaces and better programming to facilitate that.
MPP Andrea Hazell: What measures are in place or you would put in place to ensure the privacy and data security of library users accessing online content?
Mr. Todd Kyle: Most libraries in Ontario actually already have very, very robust privacy and security measures. I can speak on behalf of Brampton Library, where, in fact, all staff have been trained in cybersecurity because, obviously, the people and the process are often the first line of defence. So that is something we take very, very seriously and we actually are pioneers in online privacy—
The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): Thank you very much.
Mr. Andrew Dowie: Thank you. My next question will be for Mr. Kyle with the Brampton Library. Thank you for being here. I know that MPP Smith had already covered a lot of ground, but on the electronic resource issue, I know this isn’t particularly new that we’ve had a lot more demand on electronic resources. We have databases: LinkedIn Learning—
The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): One minute.
Mr. Andrew Dowie: —ProQuest, but also PressReader, also OverDrive. I believe what you’re saying is that you’re proposing a consolidation of the resources that people are asking for, but you’re also asking to take that off of the municipal tax base today and putting it to the provincial level. Is that fair for me to say?
Mr. Todd Kyle: Yes, we’re asking about consolidating it at the provincial level to leverage the province’s buying power for efficiency.
Mr. Andrew Dowie: But would the municipalities fund that, or are you looking for the province to pick up the bill for it?
Mr. Todd Kyle: We’re looking for the province to fund this particular package. It wouldn’t be the entirety, and certainly would not include, for example, e-books, which are a much more expensive local investment. But this certain common suite, yes, would be funded by the province rather than the municipalities.
Mr. Andrew Dowie: Thank you very much.
Ms. Catherine Fife: Todd, just to follow up on that, the $15-million proposal does not include e-books?
Mr. Todd Kyle: No, $15 million would not go anywhere near to covering the cost of e-books. E-books are very expensive and are often purchased on an individual basis rather than a subscription. The subscription models we’re talking about are where an unlimited amount of users within a certain jurisdiction get access.
Ms. Catherine Fife: Okay. And I think copyright plays itself into the e-books—
Mr. Todd Kyle: Of course.
Ms. Catherine Fife: Okay.
It does feel like Groundhog Day for the Ontario Library Association. You’ve made compelling arguments. The provincial budget for 2022-23 was set at $204.7 billion. Your request of $25 million overall for this budget year equals 0.012213% of that budget. I wanted to give you an opportunity to talk about the return on investment, please—like, 30 seconds, one minute.
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Mr. Todd Kyle: In our view, the return on investment in public libraries is always extraordinary. In Brampton, for example, we have 35% of households who are active users, and that’s on a total budget of $20 million for the entire library. So we consider the return on investment to be extraordinary, yes.
Ms. Catherine Fife: We have our Kitchener library and Waterloo libraries, who have really expanded their mandate, essentially, to address ESL services, some community outreach, some health navigation and, certainly, addressing social isolation.
I don’t know if you saw, last night on CTV, they did have a very compelling story around seniors who are desperately facing social isolation and loneliness. We know now loneliness kills and impacts overall health outcomes, so the library was actually indicated as one of those resources.
Also, I just wanted to give you a sense—and thank you for raising First Nations and the disparity in services as well. Do you feel that this is a needed investment towards reconciliation?
Mr. Todd Kyle: Yes, I do. One of the roles that public libraries in First Nations play is providing culturally relevant information and resources. So, yes, absolutely.
Ms. Catherine Fife: Okay. Thank you very much for that. Once again, we’ll try to put forward your initiative to the government. I don’t see why the government would not be looking seriously at this investment, given the fact they have a $5.4-billion unallocated contingency fund right now, whereby those resources could be invested today in local libraries.
Michelle Arbuckle (Ontario Library Association)
Presentation
Ms. Michelle Arbuckle: Thank you so much for having me today. My name is Michelle Arbuckle. I’m the executive director of the Ontario Library Association, and I’m here today representing the Ontario Library Association and the Federation of Ontario Public Libraries. Collectively, our members work within over a thousand library branches across this province.
Again, thank you for having me. Apologies for not being there in person; Mother Nature had other thoughts. But I am here today to talk about three priority areas: (1) the Ontario digital public library, (2) the First Nations Salary Supplement and, finally, (3) our Public Library Operating Grant.
I did want to start by thanking the provincial government for two years ago, when we were provided a $4.8-million grant to provide high-speed Internet to over 100 rural communities. In some cases, that’s the only place to get Internet in a community, making public libraries the destination for people to get online.
Millions of Ontarians rely on local public libraries to connect to their communities, to work, to learn, to find or to train for a job, and to connect to their communities and their government services. But building on that foundation, it’s time to empower Ontarians with online resources that they need to succeed no matter where they live. Alberta and Saskatchewan already have a model that works quite well, and the Ontario public libraries are proposing something similar: the creation of an Ontario digital public library.
Imagine, if you will, if you could give equitable access to a common set of online resources, giving people across the province, no matter where they live, access. You could give your constituents and all Ontarians the tools that would allow them to do in-depth job and career skills training, to improve their language skills, for their children to get tutoring and homework help, and also something that’s becoming increasingly important in this world: accessing quality health information. This is a proven model, and we are requesting a funding level of $15 million annually, which would provide all Ontarians access to those high-quality digital tools.
We know that these resources work well and are in demand, because you can find them already at many large libraries across Ontario. My own public library already provides access to LinkedIn Learning, curriculum-based resources, language learning, children’s resources in multiple languages and high-quality online research databases. The cost for an average mid-size library is approximately $41,000 a year, but many libraries are not able to provide access to those tools, because it’s just cost-prohibitive for them to do so on their own. This is especially true in small or rural libraries, where they have fewer online resources. People don’t have access to the same information, simply based on where they live in this province.
But by leveraging volume purchasing and through annual provincial investment, as well as existing public library infrastructure, the Ontario digital public library could provide a core set of high-impact digital resources to every public library and every Ontarian, at a cost savings overall of up to 40% when compared to the current library-by-library subscription model, which means that every library in Ontario would benefit. Larger libraries can reinvest that money into other programming, and smaller libraries can deliver programs for the first time in some cases. It’s a great solution, because we already have the infrastructure and support systems in place to provide access, to help people navigate those resources.
To summarize my first priority: the creation of an Ontario digital public library, for which we are requesting a funding level of $15 million.
My second ask is for an annual investment of $2 million for the First Nations Salary Supplement. The current status in Ontario, as many of you might know: We have 133 First Nations communities. Out of those 133, only 39 currently have—sorry, there’s a typo on my slide—public libraries. Public libraries are destinations for those communities, sometimes the last gathering place where their languages, stories, culture and artifacts are stored.
As you know, public libraries overall rely on municipal grant funding to fund their operations, but those are not available for First Nations public libraries, and often they rely on one-time grants, which is not sustainable. The librarians running those institutions have to make a choice between books on the shelves or a salary, and that salary is often far below a living wage, so ultimately the choice comes down to staying in their community, below a living wage, or leaving in order to support themselves and their families, which frequently forces First Nation public libraries to close. But with an annual $2-million investment, we can ensure First Nation communities across Ontario can continue to stay open to collect their stories, their culture and have a community gathering place, and also have a staffed librarian with a livable wage.
Our final ask is a Public Library Operating Grant. I’ve made reference to that a few times, about how libraries are funded. Public libraries are very grateful for the continual support through this Public Library Operating Grant, which has been happening for over 25 years now. Unfortunately, in that time—over 25 years—there has not been an increase to that funding from the province to our funding level. So we’re asking for an increase to that Public Library Operating Grant.
Ontario public libraries are a key community gathering place that support job creation, job skills, education—and for our vulnerable communities as well. And with so many competing priorities, libraries are asking for an increase to the Public Library Operating Grant so that we can continue to support all Ontarians.
To summarize, our three priority areas will help to provide—
The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): One minute.
Ms. Michelle Arbuckle: —equitable access to digital tools across the province, keep First Nation public libraries open and staffed, and allow public libraries to continue playing a pivotal role and a necessary role in our communities. Thank you for your time.
Dina Stevens (Federation of Ontario Public Libraries)
Presentation
Ms. Dina Stevens: Hi, everyone. Sorry about that. Thank you for allowing me to appear here virtually. I actually have tonsilitis, so I’m just getting over an illness, but thank you so much for allowing me the opportunity to participate today virtually.
My name is Dina Stevens and I’m the executive director of the Federation of Ontario Public Libraries. I’m proud to work alongside passionate librarians and library staff who make an impact for millions of regular people across Ontario every day in communities large and small.
Public libraries are critical to communities across Ontario and essential to thriving, local economies and economic growth. Millions of Ontarians rely on local public libraries in their communities to work, to learn, to connect to community and government services, and to find or train for a job. It’s a testament to our mission of service and inherent flexibility that corresponds to what our communities need, but many Ontarians who depend on these public library services are still falling through the gaps.
Combined with the impact of the pandemic, the pressure of inflation on public library and our municipal budgets and growing social and economic challenges in communities across the province, this has brought public libraries to a critical point. The situation is even more challenging for many First Nations public libraries, as these libraries do not receive funding from their municipal tax bases and they confront an overburdened financial model that has left many public libraries on reserves closed or with severely reduced access.
On behalf of the public libraries across Ontario, we are advocating for critical, targeted investments that will stabilize our public libraries and ensure that all Ontarians, no matter where they live or learn, will continue to have access to modern, cost-effective resources and services that they have come to rely on through their local public libraries.
The first thing I wanted to tell you about, of course—I’m sure you’ve already heard about it—is the Ontario digital public library. The Ontario government has already recognized the crucial importance of public libraries to broadband Internet access, and they made a historic $4.8-million investment to install or upgrade broadband connectivity at over 100 public libraries across the province. And this was a fantastic initiative that brought connectivity to rural and remote libraries across Ontario and on reserve.
However, many of these public libraries, particularly small libraries and in First Nations communities, struggle to afford and cannot provide high-quality digital resources that people in their communities need. So, for example, we have 363 public library systems—that’s over 1,000 branches in almost every single community in the province, but only 20 of those 363 can actually afford a robust complement of e-resources. So that is a huge culture of haves and have-nots. Really, only the large, urban public libraries like Hamilton Public Library, Toronto Public Library etc. can afford e-resources.
Digital resources are now highly impactful and accessed as part of public library offerings. They provide powerful capabilities, including in-depth job and career training skills; language learning; live tutoring and homework help; health information and resources that support vulnerable residents, such as seniors and adults living with developmental disabilities; and more. These resources are extremely expensive, especially as we’re purchasing them now, which is on a patchwork, library-by-library basis. Individuals and families can’t afford to subscribe to them on their own.
Following the lead of Alberta and Saskatchewan, Ontario can leverage its significant purchasing power to create this provincially funded resource. We estimate that the Ontario digital public library could provide the same digital resources at a cost savings of up to 40% when compared to the direct subscription by an average Ontario public library.
We’re asking for an annual investment of approximately $15 million, where every Ontarian will have access to a common set of high-quality e-learning and digital resources through their local public library, and all they need is a library card. For hundreds of libraries across Ontario, they’ll be able to offer digital resources that they could never have afforded to provide before, while our larger public libraries will be able to reinvest tens of thousands of dollars into their urgent local priorities.
I did want to speak a little bit about our other two priorities that we will be asking for in our pre-budget submission. We will be—and if not more importantly—working alongside First Nations public library leaders to implement a sustainable funding model for First Nations public libraries to ensure that these important local hubs are fully fundable and viable. As I said previously, these libraries do not have a municipal tax base, and about 95% of our libraries’ budgets come from municipal taxes.
As an immediate first step, the First Nations salary supplement must be increased to ensure that all existing First Nations public library staff are fairly compensated for the work that they perform. Since 2019, we have had 11 public libraries on reserves close because they are not able to pay their workers or remain open and pay their bills because of severely reduced budgets. The public libraries on reserves—
The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): One minute.
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Ms. Dina Stevens: Oh, sorry?
The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): Carry on. I marked the one minute.
Ms. Dina Stevens: Oh, thank you.
Public libraries on reserves serve as an accessible gathering place and information-sharing resource for First Nations communities and they’re deeply important to maintain a sense of community and to minimize social isolation, many of which are remote or face systemic social and economic challenges.
In addition to the First Nation Salary Supplement, Ontario’s public libraries are continuing to emphasize the need to increase provincial funding for Ontario’s libraries to address critical shared priorities and community needs. Unlike most sectors in Ontario, public libraries have received no increase in the provincial operating funding budget for over 30 years. The envelope has been frozen since 1992. During that time, the value of the province’s investment has decreased by over 60%. We are asking for—
The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): Thank you very much. That concludes your time. Hopefully, we can get the rest in during the question and answer.
Questions and Answers
MPP Andrea Hazell: Good morning, everyone. Presenters, thank you for coming out here and presenting to us.
My first question is for Dina. I know how important it is for the public libraries to keep going. It’s where the community can come together without actually paying for it. As a small business owner, believe it or not, when I started out my business—I usually bring my business colleagues in that library where we can use the resources and start our businesses at low cost. So thank you for keeping the libraries going. I’m a big fan of that as well.
There’s a key question I want to ask you today. The cyber attack of the Toronto Public Library has severely impacted the system, the largest in Canada. What should the government be doing to protect our libraries from these attacks?
Ms. Dina Stevens: Unfortunately, these attacks are hugely impactful for the library users who rely on the library every single day. When these cyber attacks hit—and it was Toronto Public Library and more recently London Public Library, and I think the British public library system as well has been recently attacked—it attacks things like their internal systems, and users can’t use the computers in the library, can’t check out books, can’t use the Internet at all, so they can’t check their emails. If they’re small business owners and they go to the library for those resources, they’re completely incapacitated.
In terms of what the government can do to assist in these cyber attacks, I think that part of the issue is, of course, funding. Libraries are continuously reallocating their resources. If we were able to have a more robust funding profile, so that way we could allocate resources into things like cyber crime, cyber attacks, to build more robust IT departments—all of this technology is hugely expensive. It leaves our library systems very vulnerable. Of course, we’re not able to afford the more sophisticated programs that you might find in the health care system that they have set up to protect their records and that kind of thing. I think it comes down to funding.
The good thing about the public library is that we’re hugely resilient. Customers are still able to come in and use the library, even though London Public Library and Toronto Public Library are hugely impacted by the cyber attacks.
Something like the Ontario digital public library—because they’re subscription-based, on third-party resources, those would not be at all affected by cyber attacks. So if we invested in something like the ODPL, we would not need to worry that these resources would be affected by cyber attacks on the public library, because they’re subscription-based, like Netflix, for example.
Ms. Donna Skelly: One minute. One minute left. I’m going to ask Dina for, quickly—thank you, Malcolm. Quickly, in terms of the challenges that libraries face today—and they’ve changed, clearly, over the past decades—what would you say is the number one service that libraries provide today in terms of the evolution of the library over the past three or four decades? How has it shifted? What is the priority today?
Ms. Dina Stevens: Today, we’re facing many of the same challenges as the province is facing. The library is largely reflective of what’s happening in your communities. The library acts kind of like a little ecosystem. So our main priorities amidst this hugely evolving landscape are things like the unhoused population, safety and security in public libraries. We’re starting to see a lot of challenges with—
The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): Thank you very much. That concludes the time.
Mr. Adil Shamji: Thank you. I sincerely appreciate you sharing that. I’ll point out—and you may know this, either from your reading or from experience—that in the Auditor General report that came out on December 6, 2023, it identified the fact that the Oakville Trafalgar hospital has the sixth-longest wait times in the province.
My question for Ms. Stevens: I was wondering if you could elaborate; you spoke eloquently about the need for increased funding for Indigenous libraries. I was wondering if you could speak to what you anticipate could be the impact of a well-funded library in an Indigenous community on the education and prosperity for the people in that community.
Ms. Dina Stevens: I’ve had the fortune of meeting—
The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): Thank you very much. That concludes the time.
Paul Takala (Hamilton Public Library)
Presentation
Mr. Paul Takala: Good morning. My name is Paul Takala. I’m the chief librarian and CEO of the Hamilton Public Library. I’m honoured to be here today to talk about public libraries in the province, and I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak this morning.
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The public library and broader library community have been working together on three main asks for the provincial government to increase their support for libraries. I’ll talk about those three points, but before I do that, I do want to make two broader points about some of the challenges public libraries are facing today.
I myself work at the Hamilton Public Library, at Central Library. I started down here in 2001. Public libraries, when we are doing our job, welcome a broad array of the community into our spaces. And what we see in libraries—and mostly, public libraries are very positive things, because we experience a lot of positive things happening in our community. When times are challenging and we’re doing our job, we also experience a lot of the challenges that people are facing. I can say that in the last number of years—it did predate the pandemic, but the last couple of years have been much more challenging in terms of the number of people that libraries are serving all across this province that are facing multiple struggles. And this is not something unique to large urban centres. I was on a call this summer with smaller libraries all across the province, and some of the social problems that we see in our larger cities that we have some experience with are now much more commonplace in smaller towns all around the province. So we in the public library community have really felt and seen the lack of investment in people just resulting in a large number of people facing multiple challenges.
When we look at what our role is in addressing that, there are certain things we can do as libraries to contribute to successful communities and healthy individuals. Our role is in contributing to helping that. But, ultimately, if people aren’t housed, if people lack adequate income, if people lack adequate supports, we face, in a sense—that’s not something that we can address. We continue to adapt and to do our best to welcome everyone into our spaces, but as we experience more and more people that are experiencing multiple challenges, it gets very difficult.
So I think that’s the context we work in. I don’t expect the public libraries to solve the housing crisis, and we’re not really asking for a ton of investment. We know there are important priorities in other areas where there needs to be investment, but there are some ways the province can step up and provide at least some more support for libraries.
In terms of the public libraries in the province, there are really three things that we’re asking for support on. One is the Ontario digital library. Just to give you an example—this is actually something that would save the province money. Here in Hamilton, last year—I checked—we spent $473,000 on electronic databases, resources for the community. Because we’re a large city and we have good support from our council, we’re able to do that. Across the province, there are a lot of smaller municipalities and especially First Nations where they simply don’t have the resources to provide adequate access to the same kind of things we do in Hamilton. So the challenges are the same, but we need to provide people with better supports across the province.
Other jurisdictions have done this by having, basically, a digital library for the province that controls the licensing negotiating on behalf of everyone. It saves money. The projection is around $20 million annually for this. It would actually save money and improve access all across the province. It would be a way of—either municipalities can individually invest in these resources and spend more for less and inconsistent access.
The second thing that we’re advocating for is the struggles that our First Nation libraries have, and I know we work closely with Six Nations Public Library. You have people trying to support education, learning, archives, history on a shoestring and there just isn’t enough staffing for them to maybe have the kind of impact that they should be having. So that’s a big challenge.
And then the third one is something that—a lot of other jurisdictions provide more supports from the province. Here in Ontario—so, last year—I was just looking at our budget for this year. We’re a $35-million organization. We are getting $949,000 from the province.
The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): One minute.
Mr. Paul Takala: That’s the same as we got back in the 1990s, and yet we have more libraries, more people that we’re serving, there’s greater need, and so to get more support, I think for us, it’s really important that northern, rural and Six Nations libraries get an increase, and that’s really what we’re advocating.
It would be great if larger municipalities also got more support. We’re always trying to support education and people navigating government services. Any increase in support would just take some of that burden off of having to always rely on our council. Thank you.
The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): Thank you very much.
Questions and Answers
Ms. Catherine Fife: … I’m just going to move on to Paul and Hamilton Public Library. Listen, the libraries have been vocal through this process, thank goodness. Downloading, you mentioned in your presentation, is an important piece: $4.9 billion over 10 years in downloading is what we heard from AMO yesterday. Very quickly, what do you need to meet the need in your community?
Mr. Paul Takala: Thank you for the question. More support from the province around the Public Library Operating Grant would definitely help our sector. As well, that investment in the Ontario digital library is basically a win-win situation in terms of the broader taxpayer, as well as improving access in the province. So I think we’re looking for some forward thinking and, really, some long-term commitments from the province, so that—the kind of work we do takes a long time to have its impacts—
The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): Thank you very much. That concludes the time for that question. That concludes the time for this panel, and we thank all the presenters for taking the time to prepare for this and to be with us this morning.
Lita Barrie (Burlington Public Library / Federation of Ontario Public Libraries / Ontario Library Association)
Ms. Lita Barrie: Thank you very much. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Lita Barrie and I am the CEO of Burlington Public Library. I appreciate that you’ve heard from my colleagues, both Paul and Dina, earlier this morning, so thank you very much for the opportunity to speak with you.
I’m here today representing Burlington Public Library as well as the Federation of Ontario Public Libraries and the Ontario Library Association. We’re so grateful for this opportunity.
As you know, millions of Ontarians rely on their local public libraries to connect with their communities, to work and to learn; to find and train for a job; and to connect to government services. In 2023, in Burlington, a neighbouring community of approximately 190,000, we had over a million in-person visits to our library branches and over 2.6 million online visits to our services. Last year, over 1.2 million items were borrowed from Burlington Public Library.
I just want to highlight the story of one particular family. We had a Burlington family of eager readers save over $27,000 last year by the items that they borrowed from Burlington Public Library. We have a mechanism within our check-out system that, every time a person borrows something from the public library, they get a cumulative total of their savings for the year. It really speaks to the opportunity and the volume of use that we see in our branches day to day.
Ontario public libraries are vital public resources, and I’m here today to speak to our three key priorities our organizations are bringing forward, as I’m sure you’ve already heard a little bit about this morning: the Ontario digital library; funding for First Nations public libraries; and we are requesting an increase to the Ontario public library grant.
Firstly, to touch on the Ontario digital library: Thanks to the provincial government’s support just two short years ago, to the order of $4.8 million, your grant to provide high-speed Internet to over a hundred rural communities has enabled rural public libraries across the province to provide high-speed Internet access to many Ontarians.
Our proposal of the Ontario digital library seeks to build on that foundation. It’s an opportunity to empower Ontarians with access to the online resources they need to succeed, no matter where they live in our province. Alberta and Saskatchewan already both have similar models to what we are proposing here in Ontario with the Ontario digital public library.
What we are seeking to do is to provide equitable access to a common set of online resources. These would include in-depth job and career skills training platforms, language learning, live tutoring and homework help, as well as health information to support all communities and their most vulnerable members.
We know that these resources work tremendously well and are in demand because many large libraries, including my own, were already able to make them available. In Burlington, we provide access to LinkedIn Learning; Brainfuse, which is curriculum-based student tutoring and job search support platform; language learning; as well as Road to IELTS, which helps newcomers prepare to work and study in Canada. These resources cost Burlington Public Library about $96,000 a year. However, smaller rural libraries aren’t able to provide these types of resources because it’s cost-prohibitive for them. Right now, here in Ontario, people don’t have access to the same information simply based on where they live.
By leveraging volume purchasing through an annual provincial investment, as well as existing public library infrastructure, the Ontario digital public library could provide a core set of high-impact digital resources through every public library. This would mean that every library in Ontario would benefit. Larger libraries, such as my own, could reinvest the money that we are currently spending into other high-need areas, and smaller libraries would be able to deliver access that they currently aren’t able to.
This is a proven model, and we’re requesting a funding level of $15 million, which would provide all Ontarians access to curriculum-based content, live tutoring, résumé and job coaching, health and small business resources and so much more.
Our second priority is focused on our First Nations public libraries, and we are requesting a First Nations salary supplement. Of the 133 First Nations communities here in our province, only 39 have public libraries. Public libraries are destinations within these communities, sometimes the last gathering place where the nation’s languages, stories, culture, artifacts are stored.
As you know, public libraries rely on municipal grant funding to fund their operations, and this is not available to our First Nations public library partners. Often, they must rely on one-time grants to fund their operations. Of course, this is not sustainable. We are requesting an annual $2-million investment so that we can ensure that our First Nations communities across Ontario can continue to collect their stories, culture and have that vital community gathering place.
Our third priority is requesting an increase to the provincial funding for public libraries. Public libraries are grateful for the province’s continued support through the Public Library Operating Grant. This program has been in place for over 25 years.
The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): One minute.
Ms. Lita Barrie: However, unfortunately, over those 25 years, there has been no increase to the province’s funding level. The Burlington Public Library receives the exact same grant amount from the province that we did in 1998. Of course, our community has grown exponentially since that time, not factoring in for inflation and other rising costs.
As the Overdue: The Case for Canada’s Public Libraries report released by the Canadian Urban Institute this year outlines, public libraries are key community gathering places that support job creation, education and our must vulnerable communities. With so many competing priorities, libraries are asking for an increase to the Public Library Operating Grant so that we can continue to support all Ontarians.
Thank you very much for your time.
Questions and Answers
MPP Andrea Hazell: Thank you for that. I’m going to go to Lita Barrie.
We’ve heard many presentations, of course, on the funding need for the libraries. We hear it loud and clear. I know you presented about the digital library, which we’ve already heard, First Nations libraries—provincial funding for public libraries has not increased for over 25 years.
What’s my minute? How many—what’s my time?
Ms. Sandy Shaw: Less than a minute.
MPP Andrea Hazell: So what I want you to do for us, for the record—what do you want to leave us with? What’s your highest priority for us to take away for you?
Ms. Lita Barrie: Thank you very much for the question—
The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): Thank you very much. That concludes the time.
We now go to the government. Would any on the government side like to take a crack at this? MPP Dowie.
Mr. Andrew Dowie: I guess I would like to start with the Burlington Public Library. I have fond memories of my 12 years on the public library board, and I can certainly attest to my own observation of the shift to digital resources and actually a shift away from bricks-and-mortar use. There is a role for bricks and mortar, but it’s less for research, more for work environment—at least, that was my observation on the metrics we had.
I’m wondering if, understanding the ask to have, basically, a consolidation of the digital services—you know, we have the book-buying power of the digital service. Do you see the same shifts that I saw during my time, where the physical footprint of the library may end up shrinking or evolving, but the importance of the digital resources will continue to grow and grow?
Ms. Lita Barrie: Thank you very much for the question. I think all lived experience at this time, particularly coming through COVID, is that more is more. So while we’ve seen more people adopt and seek out the digital resources, we’re actually equally seeing more people flock to our doors.
Earlier this week, at Burlington Public Library’s Central library, we launched a discovery space, which is a STEM-based learning space for kids and families to come and access robotics and hands-on learning tools that they might not have access to at home.
I think, from your experience as a board member to what we’re seeing today, it’s just the evolution of what our community is looking for at the public libraries. They are looking for a quiet study place. Speaking to my partners on the panel here today, people are looking for shelter. Increasingly, in the absence of shelter, we provide access to washrooms and a safe place to be for many members of our community who may have no housing or suboptimal housing day to day.
So we’re seeing a lot of demands on our space and our community seeking a place where they can come together. I think that’s been really one of our learnings through COVID: people of all ages wanting to get out into their community. In our community, in Burlington, like so many others, the public library is the one space—and I feel so fortunate to be here with health care partners. We are a public service that serves a similar lifespan, from birth right through to end of life, and that is really a core function that we serve in our community. So, in our libraries, we have seniors coming in to do sit-and-fit. We have kids upstairs doing storytime. We have hybrid workers coming and using our quiet pods—because of their housing situation, they can’t do all of their work from home. So we’ve really seen an evolution of our spaces, and we’re trying to keep up with that and keep up with that with the funding that we have available to us.
Mr. Andrew Dowie: Thank you for that.
Chair, how much time do I have left?
The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): You have 4.1.
Mr. Andrew Dowie: Okay, excellent.
Just a supplementary: Thank you for mentioning that, the aspect about shelter. I know, even many years ago, when I first joined—2014, 2015—actually, I was there in 2006. Even back then, we noticed that in some of the branches, the more urban ones, we saw this issue with individuals coming and staying all day. It was a warm space, they had nowhere else to go, and also the demand from students, who need a quiet space. Just as you mentioned, it’s quite unaffordable to live. Even years ago, you have roommates, you have distractions, and you need that study space in order to survive with your education. I certainly relied on it when I had midnight access at my library going to university. And some systems—I know your colleagues in Hamilton brought forward the expanded hours, which is, I believe, a key card system, where you can go and access a space, study, and have that quiet space.
Now, the knock I’ve heard against that is just that shelter situation where, if someone who may be homeless gets a card, how do they leave when the hours are ending? I didn’t have a chance to ask the representative from the Hamilton Public Library earlier today, but I’m wondering if you might be able to elaborate on that kind of social circumstance and what do you see the future being for the bricks and mortar, making sure that we are addressing social issues in the branches while maintaining a viable and beloved service for the people of Ontario.
Ms. Lita Barrie: Thank you again for the question. Absolutely, it’s a balancing act and it’s an area of focus for us with our staff teams, many of whom are serving a community that is changing much quicker than their own lived experience might recognize.
We are very mindful of the public investment made in public libraries and we look, just like our health care partners, for creative solutions. So we’re increasingly working with many non-profit agencies who are coming in and supporting our staff and providing some of those more primary support functions around housing and homelessness right in our library branches. While we don’t have the same model as Hamilton in terms of the extra hours, we have expanded ours across our system, just recognizing how much space is. So a lot of it is learning and treating people with their shared humanity.
We find so many people, despite their dire circumstances, are so grateful for our warm space and our Internet access. I think a huge component and a huge shift coming through the pandemic is many individuals need access to our WiFi and our computers so that they can access other government services. Many of us privileged in this room take, as an assumption, that we have data on our cellphones and we have wireless access at home. Increasingly, in our community, we have many fixed-income seniors. While they might be living in very valuable homes, their monthly income does not allow for them to access those types of services and yet they vitally need access to the Internet in order to access their health care and their supports.
The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): One minute.
Ms. Lita Barrie: So, absolutely, the complexity that you saw continues to evolve and we’re looking for creative solutions, working with community partners and agencies, and training our teams at what they do best, which is helping people to be able to do that safely and respectfully in the communities that we serve.
Mr. Andrew Dowie: Thank you very much.
Ms. Sandy Shaw: I’m going to carry on with Lita Barrie.
Lita, it’s nice to see you. It’s been a while. It’s nice to see you doing well. What you were describing, what we’ve been hearing described by libraries that have come before us is, without putting a finer point on it, you are providing essentially a front-line social service. You’re a point of refuge for people, for people who are struggling with homelessness and a lack of access to things that we take for granted, as you have described, which is a warm place, a quiet place, a safe place and Internet services. So I want to start by commending the library for the work that you do, not only in providing what is seen as your core service, which is providing innovative access to digital information, to print information, for building a community space, but for also adapting in order to provide front-line emergency shelter services, essentially, and the absence of it being provided by any level of government to the degree to which we need it. So thank you for that work that you are doing. To understand the question about your physical footprint: If you did not have a building for people to seek shelter in, there would be a lot more people in our communities who would be on the streets and being cold day and night, so thank you.
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Having said that, though, I do have a question here. And that is we’re here giving recommendations to the government for what they should be putting in their 2024 budget allocations. You talked about the First Nations’ access to funding—First Nations library. And it seems to me that you said that the ask is $2 million. Is that for the province? Because that seems like a very meagre ask to do something that is critically important and really is a shortcoming of us for not having done that to retain the important history of Indigenous folks in our community.
Ms. Lita Barrie: Yes, so recognizing the constraints that the government is facing with the $2-million investment, that that would create a base funding to support the First Nations public libraries that exist across the province and provide the stability that would allow that sector to grow. I think you could take our priority number 2 and priority number 3 and combine them in the sense of optimally having a funding model that was inclusive of all of our First Nations public library partners, as well as urban and rural public libraries across the province—an operating grant model that would reflect the population served and some of the unique needs such as those of our First Nations library to provision basic service.
Thank you so much for your support and compliment on the service we’re providing. I think another element of the service that we provide—speaking to the previous question—with this shift to digital, our physical buildings also provide a huge respite from loneliness. So we serve a very large population of seniors in Burlington, and there is so much that they access online and what they are seeking most is people.
So people come to our public libraries every day to be around people. Whether they are—you know, they might just be reading the newspaper, but they are thrilled to be able to see kids running, and the same with some of our marginally housed folks as well. Just to have access to that normalcy of what community truly means in a time where our society is very imperfect, I think is something that I feel so privileged to be able to witness, working in a public library.
Ms. Sandy Shaw: Thank you, and you should feel proud of that work, so thank you very much.
Cathy Simpson (Niagara-on-the-Lake Public Library / Federation of Ontario Public Libraries / Ontario Library Association)
Presentation
Ms. Cathy Simpson: Thank you for this opportunity to present at the 2024 pre-budget consultations. My name is Cathy Simpson. I’m the Niagara-on-the-Lake Public Library chief librarian and a member of the Federation of Ontario Public Libraries and the Ontario Library Association. Libraries are founded on the principles of sharing and co-operation, so I’m proud to work with these associations, as well as the other library systems in the Niagara region and throughout Ontario.
You’ve already heard from several of my colleagues, I know, over the last few sessions, so you’ll know we’re focused on three budget priorities: the Ontario digital public library, the First Nation Salary Supplement, and the provincial library operating grant.
Communities in Niagara range from mid-size urban centres like St. Catharines and Niagara Falls through to small rural communities like Wainfleet and West Lincoln, with Niagara-on-the-Lake falling somewhere in between. Niagara amalgamated into 12 municipalities in 1970, and we’ve seen our population grow, especially over the last few years when newcomers and residents from larger centres have moved to Niagara looking for affordable housing. In Niagara-on-the-Lake, many of our newcomers are surprised when they discover that we can’t provide the same learning resources, programs and services offered by libraries in larger cities.
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Niagara-on-the-Lake welcomed new residents over the last decade, especially, like I say, in the last few years. And the town’s population is forecast to double in the next 20 years, mainly in the Glendale area, which borders St. Catharines along the QEW and the Welland Canal and is home to a campus of Niagara College and an outlet mall.
Currently, Niagara consists of six villages, including Glendale, as I mentioned, with economies rooted in agriculture, wine, tourism, heritage and the arts. We have one branch library in Niagara-on-the-Lake and self-service in two of our villages.
Many residents face challenges visiting a library in person, so they rely on our website and our e-resources, making digital literacy a skill that’s very important—a skill that became more necessary during the pandemic, and a skill that continues to be important as more and more services go digital. Seniors isolated at home with limited technology and skills are especially impacted by this shift to digital, so at the library, we provide one-on-one tech tutoring as well as classes on a number of technology topics to keep them connected and empowered.
We also serve a large community of migrant farm workers, who often don’t have access to an Internet connection, or at least a high-speed connection, and who need literacy and English-as-a-second-language instruction. We loan Internet hot spots so they can connect with family and community services, and we work with local agencies and volunteers to provide literacy and ESL instruction.
Our town’s high school closed several years ago, so the library serves as a community meeting place and learning centre for local teens who are bused to schools in neighbouring communities.
These are just some examples of our residents who would benefit tremendously with access to the digital resources proposed for the Ontario digital public library.
Residents have requested and need language learning, professional development, lifelong learning courses, K-to-12 research resources, live tutoring, and automotive and farm equipment manuals. Currently, we can only offer free resources like CBC Corner and G1 driver test databases, along with one paid resource, the genealogy database Ancestry.
We estimate that the Ontario digital public library would provide resources at a cost savings of up to 40% when compared to libraries subscribing individually. The province of Ontario can leverage its significant purchasing power to fund this resource at an estimated cost of $15 million annually and, in doing so, deliver equitable access to a common set of authoritative learning resources to every Ontarian regardless of where they live, with technology and supports provided by library staff.
Equally important, our second ask is a sustainable funding model for First Nations public libraries. Libraries on-reserve serve as gathering places and information-sharing centres and are deeply important to maintain a sense of community and to reduce social isolation on these often remote reserves that face unique social and economic challenges. These reserve libraries don’t receive municipal tax funding, and receive only limited support from their bands, often for things like utilities. The annual provincial operating grant combined with the First Nation Salary Supplement currently provides an average of $15,000 annually to each library on-reserve. A modest investment of $2 million annually would sustainably fund library operations for First Nation libraries and ensure a living income for their staff.
Finally, there’s an urgent need to increase the annual provincial operating grant to address critical priorities shared by the province and local communities. Public libraries have received no increase in provincial operating funding for over 25 years, and during that time, the value of the province’s investment has actually decreased by over 60%. While most public libraries are municipally supported—up to 90% to 95%—
The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): One minute.
Ms. Cathy Simpson: —the provincial portion of funding is critical.
In addition to maintaining current levels of provincial funding, we propose an annual investment of $25 million to address shared community and provincial priorities, including supporting economic recovery through job training and skills; addressing the impacts of mental health and addictions on communities; providing services and resources to seniors, newcomers and low-income families; and supporting early literacy and kindergarten-to-grade-12 success.
Public libraries are one of the last free community spaces that welcome all, and they are truly critical parts of social infrastructure.
On behalf of public libraries across the Niagara region and Ontario, I’m advocating for critical, targeted investments to stabilize public libraries and ensure all Ontarians, no matter where they live, have access to modern, cost-efficient resources and services to thrive and succeed. The partnership between the Ontario government and local public libraries is vital—
The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): Thank you very much.
Questions and Answers
Mr. Wayne Gates: Hopefully, the government will see the need there and, certainly, include it in the budget.
To Niagara-on-the-Lake—Cathy, to your library services: Tell us how many people use that particular facility and why you need the ask to this government—a little clearer—and what it is that’s needed. Talk about how many residents in Niagara-on-the-Lake actually use that service. It’s amazing, quite frankly. I think that would be helpful for the committee.
Ms. Cathy Simpson: Thank you. In terms of people who use the library, statistics are a little strange right now because of the pandemic. We were forced to close on and off over the last three years. We’re finalizing our 2023 statistics. In 2022, with completely being closed in January, we had just over 30,000 physical visits, so that’s in-person to the library; and in terms of our website, that was just over 75,000 visits. Of course, the virtual visits increased due to some of the closures.
We have what we call “active members.” That’s a number we give to the province. That’s people who have used their library card in the last two years. We have approximately 9,000 active members. That doesn’t include people who don’t have a card but just come and stay and sit down, read the newspapers, use the computers. We do see tourists coming to print, say, their plane tickets or itineraries. And I believe—sorry; did you want some other statistics, as well?
Mr. Wayne Gates: The point I’m trying to make is that—in my last election, one of the candidates said that we don’t need libraries anymore. That was kind of what the headline was in the local paper, and a lot of people really got upset—
The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): One minute.
Mr. Wayne Gates: —about that because of the fact that we know how much it’s used. It is really the hub of the community. We’ve got a little store in there so that we can get some food and meet there, and a lot of our seniors go there. I think it’s important to have the committee understand how important this service you’re providing every single day is. It gets our seniors out of their homes and gets them to meet each other and go read the books.
How many book signings have you had in that particular facility? I’ve been to a lot of them. It seems like every time I go, you’ve got to buy a book; it’s the way it is for the book signings.
All those things—it’s just such an important part of our community.
When you come and you ask at budget time for some help, these are good reasons why the committee, I would think, would say, “Yes, these are needs that we have to address, and we can do it at budget time.”
Ms. Cathy Simpson: Agreed. We’re kind of food for the brain, and we’re also a cultural—
The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): Thank you very much. Maybe we can add that to the next question.
Michael Ciccone (London Public Library / Federation of Ontario Public Libraries / Ontario Library Association)
Presentation
Mr. Michael Ciccone: Good afternoon. I’m Michael Ciccone. I’m the CEO of the London Public Library, just across the way here. I’m here today representing not only Londoners, but all Ontarians, as a spokesperson for the Federation of Ontario Public Libraries and the Ontario Library Association. Thank you very much for having me today.
Public libraries are Ontario’s farthest-reaching, most cost-effective public resource. They are engines of innovation, entrepreneurship and local economic development in Ontario communities of all sizes. According to the 2022 Ontario public library statistics:
—four million Ontarians have public library cards. They rely on local public libraries to connect to their communities, to work, to learn, to find or train for a job and to connect to their community and government services;
—2.4 million Ontarians use their public library every week, and double that number visit our websites;
—67,000 Ontarians per week attend programs at their library;
—2.2 million books and other items, be they physical or digital, are borrowed from libraries every week;
—12,000 patrons across Ontario use library computers per day; and
—52,000 patrons per day gain access to the Internet through library wireless services.
The organizations I represent have three provincial priorities. The first is a province-wide solution to the delivery of digital resources and tools. Two years ago, the province provided a $4.8-million grant to provide high-speed Internet to over 100 rural communities, and we were very, very appreciative of that. In some cases, this is the only Internet in a community, making public libraries the sole destination for people to get online.
Building on that foundation, we seek your support in empowering Ontarians with resources and tools needed to succeed no matter where they live through the creation of an Ontario digital public library. This service would provide province-wide access to a common set of online resources and tools that would include in-depth job and career skills training, language learning, live tutoring, homework help and health and information resources. Alberta and Saskatchewan already have a model that works well, and the Ontario public libraries are proposing something very similar.
There is substantial evidence from larger libraries across Ontario that are lucky enough to have budgets to allow them to subscribe to some of these tools, including London Public Library, that these resources and tools are heavily used. For many Ontario libraries, especially those in small and rural jurisdictions, subscriptions are cost-prohibitive. People are denied access to these resources simply based on where they live. By leveraging volume purchasing and delivering this service through an existing public library infrastructure, the Ontario digital public library could provide a core set of high-impact digital resources to every public library and every Ontarian at an overall cost savings of up to 40% when compared to what libraries currently pay by subscribing individually.
Every library in Ontario would benefit. Small libraries would be able to deliver access to these tools perhaps for the first time. Larger libraries can reinvest money into other services and needs, such as addressing the needs of their IT infrastructure and guarding against cyber attacks, like the one that LPL recently experienced, or adjusting the security and safety of their patrons and staff. We are requesting $15 million to support a proven model of service delivery that would make a tremendous difference in so many Ontario communities.
Our second priority is the First Nation Salary Supplement. Of the 133 First Nations communities in Ontario, only 39 have public libraries. Public libraries are destinations for these communities, sometimes the last gathering place for where their languages, stories, culture and artifacts are stored. As you know, public libraries rely on municipal grant funding to fund their operations, and these are not available to First Nations public libraries. Often, they have to rely on one-time grants, and this is not sustainable. Librarians running these institutions have to make choices between the books and resources they provide or their salary, and their salary is far below living wage. Ultimately, they have to make a choice: staying in their community below a living wage or leaving to support themselves and their families. This forces First Nations public libraries to close. With an annual $2-million investment, we can ensure First Nations communities across Ontario can continue to collect the stories of their culture and have a community gathering place.
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Our third priority is to increase the provincial funding for public libraries. Public libraries are grateful for the continued support through the Public Library Operating Grant, or PLOG, but unfortunately, the allocated amount has not been increased in over 25 years. Ontario public libraries are a key community gathering place that support job creation, job skills, education, literacy and serve our most vulnerable communities. With so many competing priorities, libraries are asking for an increase to the operating grant so that we can continue to support all Ontarians.
Thank you for your time.
Questions and Answers
Mr. Mike Harris: Michael, let’s talk libraries.
Mr. Michael Ciccone: Sure.
Mr. Mike Harris: I’ve participated in a couple of these hearings around the province. I’m not a permanent member of this committee, but when we’re going all across the province we try and spread the love, if you will, and have different members take part so that we can get a little better sense of what’s happening in different parts of the province.
I’ve now heard from a rather coordinated effort from the libraries across Ontario.
Mr. Michael Ciccone: Some of the language may have been similar.
Mr. Mike Harris: Yes, exactly.
One of the things that’s obviously come up quite often is the notion of this more holistic provincial online library. Where I’m from—I’m from Kitchener—the region of Waterloo operates our libraries in our townships; we have four townships. And then each city—Waterloo, Kitchener and Cambridge—operates their own libraries respectfully in their municipalities. Each of those library systems has some kind of current online component.
I guess the question is—I assume that is the case in most libraries, if not all at this point across the province. How can we accomplish this without having to reinvent the wheel? Because there has obviously been a lot money and time that has been dedicated to setting up these individual online components. How can we coalesce them together and look at a way to move that out across the rest of the province?
Mr. Michael Ciccone: I do have some background in terms of collections, which usually falls underneath that portfolio. I haven’t been there in a while, but I can say that, if we decided, as a province, to approach the vendors that provide these resources, bringing that up would not be that difficult. For instance, some of the databases would probably just do it by IP authentication. Wherever you logged in from in Ontario, you would be able to get to those databases. It actually makes it simpler because, in general, when you’re trying to get into these databases, you’re authenticating through your public library. That requires, in some cases, a licence to get into your system in order to authenticate to make sure that you’re a member of that library. That would all go away with a provincial approach.
Mr. Mike Harris: So if you were to take a provincial approach, it would then make the individual ones redundant, I would assume.
Mr. Michael Ciccone: Redundant, yes, absolutely. Obviously the vendor needs to be paid, but I think, in the past, they’ve been willing to forgo that for a larger customer base.
Mr. Mike Harris: Sure. But that one vendor would be doing all of the province. I’m assuming there are multiple vendors for different municipalities.
Mr. Michael Ciccone: Yes, there is absolutely. I—
Mr. Mike Harris: From a framework perspective, you would have to figure that out, but it could be done.
Mr. Michael Ciccone: Yes, absolutely. Again, all these libraries are dealing with these vendors one-on-one. This would be an opportunity to have one group dealing with each of the vendors.
Mr. Mike Harris: So who would become the online library? How would that be administered?
Mr. Michael Ciccone: You know, I don’t know for sure. My guess is, and it’s just a guess, it would be the Ontario Library Service.
Mr. Mike Harris: Okay.
Mr. Michael Ciccone: Because they’re doing some of that now, where they’re negotiating for consortium pricing, but it’s still individual purchasing.
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Mr. Mike Harris: I just look at it like—we’ve got four different library systems in Waterloo region. That doesn’t make a lot of sense as it is.
Mr. Michael Ciccone: It does not.
Mr. Mike Harris: Yes. But I think about the fact that they would then fight about who would be the ones to take charge and make sure that the region’s interests are represented in that.
Mr. Michael Ciccone: As you can see by our coordinated effort here, we actually work very well together. Libraries are very collaborative when it comes to things like that, if it means saving money and if it means getting access to the people in Ontario.
Mr. Mike Harris: And what about from a municipal standpoint? Because, like you said, the libraries are funded by the various municipalities, with funding sometimes—well, most of the time—from various other levels of government as well. So how do you envision that funding model working, then? If there’s a provincial arm that’s taking over the online piece, they’d be funded separately than the brick-and-mortar libraries?
Mr. Michael Ciccone: The savings are significant, but not so much at the municipal level that we would say, “Oh, my God.” There are still digital resources that we would have to do individually based on the licensing, like, for instance OverDrive and Libby or something like that. Anything that reflects what you would think of as taking out a book in the digital world—
Mr. Mike Harris: Which is the Libby system.
Mr. Michael Ciccone: —which is the Libby system—would not qualify for this. It would be more of the research, LinkedIn and things like that, where—
Mr. Mike Harris: So you would still have your individual library systems doing the in-and-out of books through Libby—
Mr. Michael Ciccone: Some of those digital resources, yes.
Mr. Mike Harris: —but then there would be another system on top of that from a provincial standpoint, is what you’re saying.
Mr. Michael Ciccone: It would be a substitute for what we’re doing now, which is an individual approach.
I’ll just give you an example. If I were to go to the London Public Library right now to go to a research database that we provide, I would have to put in my library card number and my PIN, and that would authenticate in our system. If the province would take over administration of that, I would just go in and I would be in, because it’s IP-authenticated. The vendor recognizes the IP for Ontario, and I’d go straight in. I wouldn’t have to authenticate with my local public library.
Mr. Mike Harris: I just would hate to see two systems being built out that would step on each other.
Mr. Michael Ciccone: It won’t. They already exist, and they wouldn’t step on each other. This would just basically be taking some of the digital resources and putting them into this consortia-level approach, which would make it easier for everybody and save the library, the province overall and municipalities some money. And that money could be put toward other aspects of areas that we’re struggling with.
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Mr. Terence Kernaghan: Thank you to our presenters here today, as well as those virtually.
I’d like to start off with the London Public Library. Michael, I know it has been a very difficult time with the cyber attack, and I just want to extend my condolences to all of the people who are working on the team. I know it has been a tremendously difficult time.
But I want to thank you for your presentation on behalf of Ontario’s libraries, because libraries do look into the future. They provide countless possibilities. They are at the heart of future work, skills development, economic development. Many presentations have shown how this is a cost-effective investment that the government could make, and I do hope that they will finally listen, because I know it’s something that’s been happening year over year. It has been many years that the province has neglected Ontario’s public libraries.
I also just wanted to thank you because you indicated that while you have access to these resources, you are also advocating for those people who do not, as well as the First Nation supplement. I just wanted to thank you very much for that; I think that’s very good of you.
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MPP Andrea Hazell: Thank you for coming in and presenting. It’s great to meet you. I want to touch on the London Public Library—a lot of your folks have been with us presenting and they’ve done a fantastic job, so if we do not get it right, there’s a problem. With the cases that your organizations and libraries presented, I hope we don’t see you next year back at pre-budget consultations and you get the funding that you desirably need.
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