CHAPTER 8:

LIBRARIES ON THE HIT LIST

A PUBLIC LIBRARY IS AN UNQUALIFIED GOOD. It is a valuable resource for children, families, seniors and students. In other words, for everybody. Going to the library is one of the few things left that qualifies as good, clean fun. So why would anyone with half a brain cut funding for libraries? Maybe the same people who’d like a drink at 9 in the morning.

In case you haven't noticed, libraries are free and open to everybody. They also run community events, groups, activities, daycares and you can borrow a movie, a book, an e-book or an audiobook from any branch in the province and they will ship it free to your home branch. Well, they used to. That’s one of the impacts of cutting over a billion dollars from the provincial libraries budget.

The Ford government just cut funding to their two main support systems, the Northern and Southern library services. Both agencies support public libraries in a number of ways, from running the interlibrary loan and delivery program to offering training for library staff and volunteers. Kitty Pope, CEO of Windsor Public Library said that they provide important support, especially to “very small municipal libraries.” Others in Northern Ontario worry about the viability and very future of their small libraries.

But people are fighting back, writing their MPP’s and visiting their constituency offices. Here’s a petition you can sign if you think that cutting libraries will make us dumb and dumber. Like the Ford Conservatives.

Stand Up. Fight Back. Don’t Give Up.