Budget boost to N.L. libraries a welcomed surprise, says director, but questions linger

Elizabeth Whitten · CBC News

· Posted: May 11, 2025 4:30 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

Public libraries crossed Newfoundland and Labrador got a astonishment successful this year's provincial fund — an extra $500,000 added to the funding.

The state earmarked $13.5 cardinal successful April's fund announcement for the Provincial Information and Library Resources Board, a Crown corporation established nether the Public Libraries Act to oversee the cognition of public room services successful the province.

The fund has not yet passed successful the House of Assembly.

"It was precise bully quality for us. We're precise pleased to spot it," said Fred Whitmarsh, manager of room operations with Newfoundland and Labrador Public Libraries (NLPL).

However, Whitmarsh says there's immoderate uncertainty astir the money.

"We're inactive successful the process of parsing it retired due to the fact that 1 of the things that's chartless … is this a imperishable boost to the backing oregon is it 1 clip money?" helium said.

Some of that funding could spell toward installation attraction and improving accessibility in libraries across the province, Whitmarsh said, arsenic good arsenic updating servers truthful they tally smoothly.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, libraries enactment a intermission connected precocious fees. Whitmarsh said he'd similar to spot that go permanent.

"The large happening for america is our collections, whether it's the carnal collections connected the shelves and the branches oregon immoderate of the integer resources arsenic well," helium said.

He said books are becoming much expensive, so libraries are being strategical successful what they acquire, and helium doesn't cognize wherefore the authorities decided to summation the fund this year.

"My idiosyncratic position is that the room is wonderful, it's great. We tin bash large things with the funding," helium said.

According to a briefing enactment prepared for authorities officials, released via an access-to-information petition successful 2023, Newfoundland and Labrador Public Libraries saw a leap successful clients utilizing Libby, the room strategy that lets patrons entree e-books and audiobooks, successful caller years.

Whitmarsh says the summation successful radical utilizing the online services hasn't gone down.

"You can't enactment that genie backmost successful the bottle," helium said. "We've seen a continued request for those online services."

In an email, Department of Education spokesperson Lynn Robinson told CBC News the fund summation is successful designation of the captious enactment libraries transportation out.

"Library unit and volunteers enactment diligently to enactment nationalist room services and programming passim Newfoundland and Labrador," Robinson wrote.

"Funding for the [Provincial Information and Library Resources Board] supports the cognition of the Newfoundland and Labrador Public Library strategy and fosters improved literacy successful our province."

NLPL was established successful 1935 and provides nationalist room services done a web of 94 locations crossed the province.

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