Huntsville Public Library fighting to keep provincial Internet Connectivity Grant

The Huntsville Public Library receives the bulk of its funding from municipal taxes, but it does receive funds from other sources to help offset its services, programs and materials. One of those sources is the provincial Internet Connectivity grant from the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, which helps eligible libraries maintain a minimum bandwidth of 5Mb.

Due to a recent decision to limit funding to libraries serving populations of less than 20,000, the library is now at risk of losing that funding. It serves at least 19,056 and with 2016 census numbers pending, may find it is over the imposed limit. And because the library has already submitted its budget to the Town for 2017, it would have to look at cutting something to make up the difference.

“With the help of our IT team we renegotiated our (internet) contract last year,” said Deborah Duce, the library’s CEO and Chief Librarian. She said that the $2000 provided by the grant just covers the cost of the internet services the library provides.

While the library hasn’t finished reviewing its statistics for 2016, Duce said that up to November library users had connected to its wireless internet 15,000 times and logged on to its public access computers more than 27,000 times.

We are very concerned about the negative service impacts this cut will have in the community. Huntsville is in the heartland of Muskoka and serves a large rural population whose access to reliable connectivity is limited. Many residents rely on the access provided by the Library to pursue education, employment, benefit, and health matters. The area is also home to many seasonal visitors who rely on the internet connectivity at the Library to remain in contact with family.
Huntsville Public Library Board Chair Sue Dixon in a letter to Eleanor McMahon, Ontario’s Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport

Duce said that most of the libraries in the province have sent a letter to the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport to express concern over the cuts. “It will have an impact for libraries with smaller budgets. We are hoping that the minister’s eyes will be opened to the positive impact that libraries have on the community and that the funding and support is valuable. If we didn’t get it, it would be sorely missed. We would have to include another $2000 in our budget (in future) which would impact taxpayers.”

(See Huntsville’s library board chair, Sue Dixon’s letter here and a letter from Stephen Abram, Executive Director of the Federation of Ontario Public Libraries here.)

Duce added that rather than reduce service levels, the loss in funding would be taken from somewhere else in this year’s budget which could impact the materials, programs and services the library offers.

Duce also said that library staff are excited for 2017 and new things to come. As of this week, the library has extended its hours to be open Monday through Thursday until 7:30 p.m. Its latest offering, a partnership with Hoopla Digital which allows users to temporarily download movies, music, comics and graphic novels, has been well received by library patrons.

On the technology front, in addition to the public workstations being in high demand, the library’s Creativity and Exploration Hub with special computers and Adobe Cloud software, and its 3D printer, 3D doodle pens, and green screen are all helping to spread technology knowledge. Starting next week, the library’s Teen Tech will be teaching kids how to use the library’s new Circuit Scribe conductive ink pens that can create electrical currents on paper. “We are working on a full makerspace – that’s funding we are investigating and space is a challenge,” said Duce.

For more information on Huntsville Public Library programs and services, visit their website at www.huntsvillelibrary.ca.

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