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Meadow Lake Library: Budget Cuts to Libraries and STC

Mar 24, 2017 | 11:40 AM

You’ve likely heard by now that libraries have taken a big hit under the new provincial budget.

The cities of Saskatoon and Regina have lost all of their provincial funding.

Funding for the Pahkisimon Nuyeʔáh Library System in the north wasn’t affected, which is good news. The other six library regions throughout the province lost 58% of provincial funding and are now sharing $2.5 million, down from $6 million.

We do not yet know exactly how this will affect us.

What we do know is that libraries are one of the few places left for everyone to use, regardless of who you are and what you have, and that despite what popular conception seems to be, our circulation and number of patron visits are continuously increasing.

We know that many of you have been affected by the new budget in significant ways. Even if you aren’t usually inclined to letter writing, this would be a good time to let your government know what is important to you. You can contact our MLA at www.jeremyharrison.ca.

And if you do drop him a line, we’d appreciate if you mentioned us.

Also…

Those of you who have ordered books recently will unfortunately be experiencing a longer than usual wait.

Our books are delivered by STC, which has been out of service while responding to the budget cuts. We do not yet have a long term plan for the approximately 320 lbs of books we receive (and then send back out) every week.