The Vancouver Island Regional Library increased its operating budget for 2024 to $38 million. That is 15% more money than last year ($33 million).  Executive Director Brent Hyman explained that this increase is necessary because the library’s  previous management did not budget properly and more money is needed for wages, benefits and leases. He has been giving presentations to the library’s funding partners. He has already spoken in Victoria, Nanaimo, and some of the other regional districts. Six of the library’s 39 branches are in the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) and he gave a presentation at the SRD Board’s March 27th meeting. 

“For the SRD,  the total levy breaks down to about $67 per capita.  Much like the school act, that doesn’t necessarily mean everybody’s using the service. Unlike schools in the region, that serve about 5 % of the population, we’re serving about 33% for significantly less funding than schools,” he explained.  

Cortes Currents: True, but there is also a significant difference in usage between a student attending school for more than 9 months of the year and someone who drops-in to the library a few times.

Hyman pointed out, “We do benchmarking, in preparation for this type of presentation and we look at comparator populations.”

He said there is a library in Campbell River, which is contributing about $700,000 below the average funding amount. It also serves Electoral Area D, which is paying $30,000 less than norm. The library on Quadra Island serves Area C, which also provides about $30,000 less. There are libraries in Gold River, Sayward, Tahsis and Cortes Island, all of which pay about $16,000 below the average amount. Heyman claims Electoral Area A and the village of Zeballos, which do not have library branches, should also be providing another $16,000.

The Regional District’s rural inhabitants use the library more than their urban counterparts. Close to ¾ of the SRD’s population lives in Campbell River, but only 54% of the circulation goes through that library. Less than 6% of the SRD’s population is in Area C, but 22% of the region’s circulation is through the Quadra Island branch. Another 6% goes through the Cortes Island branch. Similar statistics are reported from the Sayward, Gold River and Tahsis branches.

However one of the biggest funding shortfalls comes from the federal and provincial governments. 

Brent Hyman: “Local government levies are about 94% of our budget. That’s been true since the 1980s. The province is down to 4%, but has a lot to say about what it thinks it should get out for 4%.”

“Why is it in Canada that the level of funding from both the provinces and the feds lag below the G8 averages? And so there are a number of recommendations in the report, primarily to federal and provincial governments about seeing critical infrastructure and treating it as such and funding it as such.”

“The analysis over three years finds that public libraries are playing a really crucial role enabling all levels of government to meet their needs and strengthen the common good. Public libraries are providing a broad array of supports, services and access and are really critical social infrastructure and community hubs.”

Heyman said that the Campbell River school district was one of the Vancouver Island public Library’s six original founding members, when it opened it doors in 1936. The library now serves 430,000 people on Vancouver Island, Haida Gwaii and Bella Coola. 

Brent Hyman: “Last year, the Vancouver Island Regional Library embarked on a big undertaking to revise its vision mission as well as its strategic plan. At the center, we’re in the business of lifting communities up, and business is absolutely booming right across the region. In terms of usage and impact: 33% of residents in our service area are active library users,  which, according to Pew Research, the Canadian Urban Institute, and others, makes public libraries the most used public amenities after roads, water, sewer, and waste.”

Hyman noted that libraries have seen an increasing usage of digital services. This process is already further along in bigger libraries, like Toronto and Vancouver. 

“Almost 40% of our services are entirely digital. That’s streaming audio, video, podcasts, downloadable e-books, magazines, and so forth.”

One program that a lot of Cortes residents may be aware of is Kanopy, a free video program similar to Netflix

Top image credit: Open book – Photo by Jonas Jacobsson on Unsplash 

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