VPL booms, budget doesn't

by Pieta Woolley on April 6th, 2006 at 9:00 AM

Growing up poor in Dublin, Vancouver's city librarian, Paul Whitney, remembers scrounging his books wherever he could find them. He says no public library was available to him. When his family moved to rural Ontario, it was the same story. In fact, Whitney didn't get his first library card until university.

Now, as one of the city's top library advocates, Whitney sat in City Hall on April 4, watching councillors debate a proposed $1.138 million in cuts to Vancouver's library system.

"I don't feel we're under attack," he told the Georgia Straight in an interview outside council chambers. "The first thing you look for is equality with other departments. We're not being singled out."

But make no mistake: there's a knife on the table. On April 6, city council plans to vote on its 2006 operating budget. Staff presented four options to council regarding the library cuts. The most expensive for taxpayers includes a 5.67-percent property-tax increase and the smallest number of cuts to programs. The least expensive includes a 1.98-percent property-tax increase and plenty of gouges.

According to the staff report, library cuts may include $342,000 in behind-the-scenes savings, involving an already-planned delay to the opening of the new Kensington branch. Deeper cuts staff suggested included: a two-week annual closure of the library's 22 branches ($320,000 saved); a permanent reduction in open hours ($320,000 saved); permanently closing an undisclosed location ($117,000 saved); or axing the Ready to Read outreach program ($117,000 saved).

"Some years are worse than others," Whitney said, explaining that council often asks community organizations to make cuts. "This is a particularly bad year; it's a cycle."

Fast times at Vancouver libraries

> In the city budget, the library is competing for tax dollars with the community centres, the police and fire departments, arts and culture, the park board, engineering, administration, and community grants, among many others.

> On average, each Vancouverite paid $58.90 in 2005 for the library's 22 branches.

> On average, each Vancouverite paid $267.14 in 2005 for Vancouver police department services.

> On average, each Vancouverite paid about $94 in 2005 for Vancouver park board services, including community centres.

> Every day, 35,000 items are checked out of the Vancouver public-library system. That's about one book for every two city residents per week.

> The number of hits on www.vpl.ca/ increased by 33 percent from 2004 to 2005.

> The library board is planning new branches at 1 Kingsway, Kingsway and Knight Street, and the West End.

> There are 2,720,000 books, DVDs, cassettes, CDs, and other materials at Vancouver Public Library branches.

> Last year, opening hours increased at the Renfrew, Oakridge, Kitsilano, Joe Fortes, and Central branches.

> Before the Central branch moved from Burrard and Robson streets, the 1994 foot traffic was 1.8 million. At the new location in Library Square on West Georgia Street, the 2004 foot traffic was 2.6 million, an increase of 32 percent.

Sources: City of Vancouver preliminary operating budget; communications director for the Vancouver Public Library; finance director for the Vancouver Public Library.

The past decade's trend, though, has been a skyrocketing library budget. In 1993, before the swanky Central and Renfrew branches opened, the city granted the library $21.9 million. Last year, that number reached $33,288,000, an increase of 52 percent over 12 years.

The library board's 2006 request for $34.6 million includes increased opening hours ($479,600), five multilingual outreach workers ($293,000), and a three-percent increase in wages, as negotiated in the collective agreement. That's an increase of 5.6 percent over last year, proposed to a council tasked with balancing a budget with a $29.2-million shortfall.

However, Shelagh Flaherty, the director of the Central Library, said demand is driving the growth. Since the mid-1990s, multilingual circulation boomed to 16.5 percent of the library's circulation yet represents only nine percent of its collection, she said.

"We put it on the first floor of the central branch so people coming from places where there's no public library could get easy access," she told the Straight. "My goodness, they found us. The space is inadequate. It could be way bigger."

Imagine being cut off from literature and current affairs because of language, Thekla Lit-the president of the B.C. Association for Learning and Preserving the History of WW II in Asia-told the Straight. She emphasized the importance of the multilingual collection, which includes Cantonese, Punjabi, Spanish, and nine other languages.

"If people can't read English as well as they can their own language, this is really helpful," she said. "For example, current affairs. If you understand what is going on, you can contribute better to society."

Lit remembers her first library card; it came from the Boys and Girls Club library in Hong Kong.

"We were very poor and couldn't afford to buy books. Each week, we could only take out two books”¦so I really appreciate that I have this opportunity to take many books out of this library."