Don't Pull the Plug on Libraries

We've received indications that the provincial government is considering cutting operating grants for public libraries in British Columbia. These grants support many library programs, including

• Interlibrary loans
• BC OneCard
• Summer Reading Club
• Online databases
• AskAway (the online reference service)

If the operating grants provided at the provincial level disappear, these services will simply disappear. Individual libraries cannot afford to subsidize interlibrary services without provincial funding. And if these services cease to exist, there is the distinct possibility that the staff members responsible for them will see their hours cut, if not eliminated outright.

These funding cuts are inappropriate for a few reasons:

1) Library usage increases during an economic downturn.

• Patrons turn to libraries during times of economic trouble for two major reasons: help, and inexpensive entertainment. The help comes in the form of a place to apply for employment insurance and other government programs online, type resumes, look up online job postings, and do other research. The entertainment comes from the library materials (books, videos, etc.) and programs (Summer Reading Club, book discussion groups, author visits, etc.) Both of these services (assistance and entertainment) are desperately needed when the economy is failing.
  

2) The amount of money saved would be a tiny drop in the bucket.

• According to some sources, the BC budget deficit for this year is $3-5 billion, and will probably be $2-4 billion next year (figures from "Gov predicts B.C. deficit to reach billions" on Canada.com). The total amount of provincial grants to public libraries is around $18 million annually.

• Even if the deficit ends up at the low end of the estimate, cutting library funding from the provincial government will only cover 0.6% of this year's deficit and 0.9% of next year's. If the deficit is at the upper end of the estimate, library funding from the provincial government will only be 0.36% of this year's deficit and 0.45% of next year's.
  

3) These grants account for up to 10% of a library's total funding.

• The Vancouver Sun noted that the Fraser Valley Regional Library Association "receives $2 million in grants each year, about 10 percent of its total revenue." (figures from Vancouver Sun, July 24th, online). Provincial funding represents a smaller percentage of the Tumbler Ridge Public Library's revenue, but it's still significant enough (over 5%) to cause drastic changes in service levels if the funding is cut.
  

4) These cuts will affect patrons and libraries in other ways as well.

• Patrons will no longer be able to borrow books from other libraries. This means that smaller libraries (including Tumbler Ridge) will be stuck in a tough place. Our town really does not have a large enough population to justify the purchase of books for a niche audience. If we can no longer rely on interlibrary loans we will be forced to either purchase obscure books that only one or two patrons will ever read, or abandon these patrons and their interests.

• Patrons will no longer be able to borrow and return books outside of their local library system. Travelling and vacationing patrons will no longer be able to borrow books from one library and return them to another.

• Reference capabilities in smaller towns will be reduced. Larger libraries may have a designated reference librarian, but most smaller libraries do not. AskAway (the online reference website staffed by library staff members from across the province) helps to cover this gap. Funding for AskAway comes from the provincial government. In addition, some reference sources used by library staff (such as online databases) are also funded by the provincial government. In short, if provincial funding for libraries is eliminated, reference services at smaller libraries will be hobbled by lack of access to reference sources and staff member availability.
  

So what can we do about it?

1) Visit www.stopbclibrarycuts.ca. It has more information about the potential funding cuts and has a link to an online petition asking the government to refrain from making these cuts.

2) Write your MLA. In Tumbler Ridge, our MLA is Blair Lekstrom.

Hon. Blair Lekstrom
10300 - 100th Street
Dawson Creek, BC
V1G 3T6
e-mail: blair.lekstrom.mla@leg.bc.ca

3) Write to the Minister of Education, Margaret MacDiarmid

Hon. Margardet MacDiarmid
PO Box 9045
Stn Prov Govt
Victoria, BC
V8W 9E2
e-mail: margaret.macdiarmid.mla@leg.bc.ca

4) Write to Premier Gordon Campbell

Hon. Gordon Campbell
Premier of British Columbia
Box 9014
Stn Prov Govt
Victoria, BC
V8W 9E1
e-mail: premier@gov.bc.ca


In short, we have to let members of the provincial government know that it is *not* acceptable to cut funding for libraries. Please take a moment to tell them exactly that. Don't let them pull the plug on libraries.


Thanks.

www.stopbclibrarycuts.ca

OPAC Computer at the Library

When you walk into the library on your next visit, you might notice a minor change. We now have a computer set up next to the photocopier.

This computer will serve three purposes:

1) OPAC
This computer is our library's card catalogue computer. If you'd like to look up a book, feel free to use this computer to do so. Library staff members, as always, will still be available to help if you are unable to find a particular item.

2) ServiceBC Access
Patrons may use this computer to access services available through the ServiceBC website (http://www.servicebc.gov.bc.ca)

3) Online database Access
For short time periods (under 15 minutes), patrons may use this computer to access the library's online databases. For longer periods of time, patrons will be asked to use an Internet station.

Note:
This computer is not for open Internet access, e-mail, Facebook, or any other activities not listed above. The library has six computers available for non-OPAC/reference purposes.

Cleaning up the Library's Catalogue

For the past few weeks I've been working on a major project: cleaning up the library's catalogue. It started as a fairly minor project. When signing items out for a patron, I noticed that a few items had really odd loan lengths (a book was only loaned for one week, while a video was loaned for three).

In each cataloguing record, there's an entry that tells our circulation program what type of item it is, and how long it should be loaned for. The items in our catalogue fall into a few categories: general collection, adult video collection (being consolidated with juvenile video collection), reference, periodicals, etc. So one by one I've been opening a list of all items in a particular category.

These lists includes the title and author of the library's materials, but also the information that's on the item's spine label (which would look something like "ANF 054.35 JAC") So I can scan down the list looking for things that don't belong (such as a video in the periodical list). I fix the item, then move on.

While doing this quick fix, I stumbled on some other problems. Some items in our collection have screwy entries for the spine label information. Because spine labels on books are just there to help patrons find books on the shelves, they're only supposed to include three capital letters to indicate the author. A few of them had extra punctuation (L'CA), more than three letters (MACK), or a mix of upper and lower case (McL or Mcl). As a result, I expanded my catalogue clean-up to fixing the spine label information in the records.

And I continued on my merry little way. ...until I found another recurring error. Some records had information in the wrong fields. To many people, it probably doesn't matter that much whether the call number prefix is in field 852$h or 852$k. But the programs we use at the library require that information in the right fields to parse it properly. If a staff member wanted to see a list of all the adult paperbacks in the library, many items would be left out because "APB" was in the wrong field. So I expanded my fixing operations. I worked away at it until two days ago. I'm not done, but I became extremely tired of switching back and forth between programs fixing the same things on many records.

The whole time I was doing my "minor" fixes, I kept thinking about the larger picture of the library's catalogue. I saw a lot of poorly entered records and annoying cataloguing practices (many records are entered in all capital characters for instance). In addition, there are some records that are simply incomplete (they include little more than the title and author of a work). As a result, I took a break from my fixing operation and moved onto the overhaul.

Before I started, I had a series of talks with Sharon about what our catalogue should look like. Now, there is an official standard called AACR2 that outlines how things should be done. Unfortunately, AACR2 is often less than helpful for real world use. As a result, Sharon and I talked about a number of topics, all related to standardizing entries the library's catalogue. We also discussed updating our catalogue records (replacing an obsolete MARC tag with a newer one for instance.)

On Thursday evening, I started at the final item of an alphabetical list of the library's materials: a ZZ Top CD. I opened the cataloguing record, fixed the errors, standardized some fields, saved it, and moved onto the next record. I worked on it for maybe an hour and a half yesterday, and around two and a half hours today.

I'm going to be at this for a very long time folks. Our library has approximately 36000 items. The last record I finished today was 344th in the list. I'm less than 1% done. At the rate I'm going (rounded down a bit, it's approximately 60 records per hour), it'll take me nearly 600 hours to finish.

So if you see me staring intently at a list of library items on my monitor, clicking and typing intermittently, please take a moment and say a brief prayer to the deity of your choice on my behalf.

Canada Day Fireworks

I'd like to thank the firefighters of Tumbler Ridge for the show they put on last night. It seems kind of silly to thank them for a light show when their everyday job involves risking their lives and being heroes, but I have a particular reason.

As many of you know, I returned to Tumbler Ridge late last August after moving away in 1994. The town I lived in for fourteen years, Williams Lake, does not have fireworks on Canada Day. It's partly due to the timing of the Williams Lake Stampede (usally encompasses Canada Day), and the fear of spooking the horses and cattle.

So last night, for the first time since 1993, I got to see fireworks in my town on Canada Day. And they were fantastic.

Thanks!