SASKATOON — Canadian libraries are working to ensure they don’t lose their equivalent of the Crow rate.
Since 1939 the federal government has subsidized the cost of shipping books to library patrons through the mail. The present $1-million subsidy is being reviewed by the government and changes may be coming in 1996.
Karen Adams, executive director of the Canadian Library Association, said her group is meeting with the federal department of Canadian heritage next week to discuss plans for the subsidy.
“We’re certainly interested in ensuring the subsidy is not lost after 1996,” she said.
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The subsidy is not based on the volume of books mailed out and there is no cap. Adams said it is a good deal for the libraries because they send many more books than the money covers. Saskatchewan alone would use up most of the subsidy if parcel post costs were charged.
That’s one reason why the libraries in this province are especially vocal about their concern. Brian Foran, president of the Saskatchewan Library Association, said if libraries must start paying or charging the full cost of mailing books, “it’ll affect information flow.”
Full parcel post cost
The director of the Palliser Regional Library, Cora Greer, said rural Saskatchewan uses interlibrary loans a lot since the typical library branch in her south-central area holds no more than 5,000 books. Last year the Palliser system, one of the province’s 10 regions, spent $13,000 to mail books to patrons. The cost would be over $100,000 if the library had to pay the full parcel post cost.
“If literacy is important to the federal government” it must retain some type of book shipment subsidy, she said.
For the province as a whole, the 140,000 items mailed in 1993 by the public and special libraries cost $81,200 under the subsidized rate. It would be $602,000 if there was no subsidy, Greer said.
In the Chinook system to the west, director Michael Keaschuk said two-thirds of those using libraries are rural people.
“We use it so heavily our feeling is that we have to let those that know … we just can’t do without it.”
Saskatchewan’s public library system is supported by provincial government money and taxes from rural and urban municipalities. While budgets have been holding steady, Keaschuk said “every new tax that comes along affects us whether it’s gas, a post office increase or the GST. We have a more difficult time passing costs along.”
Petition under way
That’s why Keaschuk, Greer and other Saskatchewan librarians have petitions and postcards to send to federal politicians so library patrons can complain about the situation.
Alberta is less proactive. The Peace River system librarian, Pat Jobb, said they are letting the national library group carry out the study and negotiations. There are no public petitions in her library system on the subject.
The Manitoba Library Association’s president, John Tooth, is also seeing what happens with the national-level discussions. But he agrees loss of the subsidy or capping the volume would hurt information flow for the “hundreds or thousands” of libraries that use it.
