A service that allowed libraries in Ontario to share materials was discontinued after provincial cuts, but the CEO of the Guelph Library says it’s back — with a few changes.
The inter-library loan service was discontinued in April when the provincial government made a 50 per cent funding cut to the Southern Ontario Library Service (SOLS), which provides inter-library lending of books among the services it provides.
Late last month, a solution was reached, wherein SOLS would discontinue its delivery van service and using Canada Post instead.
“I am disappointed, but not surprised, because that was very expensive,” said Guelph Public Library CEO Steven Kraft about discontinuing the delivery van service.
Kraft said the Public Library Act states that libraries cannot charge for access to materials, and cannot charge a fee for the inter-library loan service.
“We will have to stay within the budget that has been given to us,” said Kraft.
There will be a cost involved in sending materials through Canada Post, but Kraft said he expects some of it will be reimbursed through SOLS. Previously, the books were moved between libraries at no cost to the Guelph Public Library.
In a joint statement, SOLS and its northern Ontario counterpart, Ontario Library Service – North, said the organizations worked with the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport to revise their 2019-20 budgets and restore the inter-library loan service.
Kraft expects the service to be back up and running in about a week. Some neighbouring libraries are already using it again, but Kraft said Guelph Public Library is taking a wait-and-see approach.
“We have suspended our account for another week to determine what the neighbouring libraries are doing and to do a little comparison to see how people are efficiently moving forward,” said Kraft. “We are taking time to look at the budget and see how we can move forward.”
Guelph Public Library will seek to prioritize what items should go out on loan and which should not to curtail costs, said Kraft.
“We will put some limitations on it to make it reasonable,” he said.
Kraft said it is a huge relief that the inter-library loan service is back.
“I think a lot of our customers — especially book clubs — find that a relief because they depended on (inter-library loan) to get some of their hard-to-find material,” he said. “I am just glad this chapter is over.”
