COBDEN — The Whitewater Public Library board presented its 2015 budget last Wednesday to council.
“We’ve accomplished a lot over the past year,” said Marilyn Labow, chief executive officer of the library.
She presented a list of what happened at the three branches – Foresters Falls, Cobden and Beachburg – in 2015. There were 732 inter-library loan books borrowed and 191 books were lent to other libraries.
Museum passes were borrowed 39 times. These passes allow a family of five free admission and can be borrowed for two weeks. The museums are Canadian Museum of Nature, Canada Agriculture and Food Museum and the Canada Aviation and Space Museum.
Each library has jigsaw puzzles to be borrowed. However, there is no return date, hence, no circulation statistics kept.
There were various activities in 2014, including family Literacy Day events in January, kids crafts at Foresters Falls’ carnival and museum activities and the TD summer reading program was also available.
Fundraising events held in 2014 included golf tournament, bake sale at the farmers market, trivia night, donation request letters sent out and a silent auction.
In technology highlights, it was noted there were computer access students for all three sites from October to March to assist patrons with computer questions. The public access computers at all three branches were accessed over 3,000 times by residents, cottagers and visitors. There were also many individuals who accessed the free wi-fi with their own laptops outside of library hours. The Whitewater Historical Society and Forester Falls Station of the Whitewater Fire Department have access to the internet using the library’s connection with their own computers.
For those with accessibility difficulties, there are CNIB books on CD available as well as one book player. The library was success in getting a Trillium Grant to renovate the Foresters Falls branch.
Ms. Labow did not review the budget with the committee members, as each had a copy and could review it themselves. The budget provided showed the library spent about $6,000 less than it budgeted for in 2014. This year’s budget is $78,678, which is just shy of $2,000 less than spent in 2014.
The budget shows the library is hoping to raise $4,000 to purchase new shelving for the renovated Foresters Falls library. One of the fundraisers is through a letter campaign, she noted.
It’s hoped the municipal grant will increase by 2.3 per cent, going up to $49,433. The provincial grant is expected to be $13,517, which has not changed since the late 1990s, when it was cut by 40 per cent.
“It’s nice to see a lower budget than 2014,” said Councillor Chris Olmstead.
He questioned why there was special fundraising for the Foresters Falls Library, and Ms. Labow noted it’s strictly for new shelving.
Councillor Cathy Regier said the library board members are to be congratulated for a job well done.
“They do a ton of fundraising,” she said. “They are a very dedicated group of volunteers.”
It’s unfortunate, but the public library operating grant from the province is not always available when needed, Ms. Labow said. Last year it didn’t arrive until mid-August and now it’s expected this year’s funding won’t arrive until next March, which could show next year the library received two provincial grants in one year.
Councillor Charlene Jackson said treasurer Marsha Hawthorne will show the grant as being received in 2015, so it won’t show twice in one year.
The library’s budget request will be reviewed when municipal budget is deliberated.
