Terry Kruger
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Apr 21/00) - Public library patrons can expect hours cut as a cost-saving measure in January to be restored in the near future.

Yellowknife City Council is expected to endorse a resolution from councillor Cheryl Best calling for the cuts, which include eight hours a week as well as a number of casual staff, to be reversed. The move came after a public outcry which sparked the realization the service reductions meant more than just a loss of hours.

"What was cut was casual hours that were used to restock shelves, interlibrary loans and ordering," said Coun. Kevin O'Reilly during Tuesday's debate on reversing the motion that led to the reduction.

"It's affecting the entire operation," he explained. "We have people with master's of library science (degrees) having to go and reshelf books. That's not what they were hired to do."

Coun. Dave McCann expressed a concern that council was not presented with enough information when the issue came forward the first time.

"I get the sense that in some ways we were not getting enough information," he said, noting that council has only recently received "client-utilization stats" that show what's going on in the library.

"I'd like to see more of that," he said. "You have to know how your operation is functioning" in order to make cutbacks.

Coun. Bob Brooks said he was concerned with how library staff was asked to present information.

"You have to remember that staff was asked where cuts could be made, not their opinion if it's appropriate.

"I think we made a mistake in budget discussions not to look at all the scenarios and all the information."

Coun. Ben McDonald said the cut was just an easy one.

"The library is just one of many services the city provides," he said. "It was a soft service that could be cut."

Best said that while she supports restoring the hours and staff, and coming up with the $38,000 it will cost, the situation taught a valuable lesson.

"This is obviously a lesson to the public that in order to cut funds, we have to cut services," she said, adding it's time to take a look at what it costs to run the library and ways to find money to pay for it.

"I've had numerous people come up to me who were willing to pay for a library card," she said. Best suggested a $10 annual fee was not unreasonable as some people are willing to spend $30 for a hardcover book that they will read and then it will "sit on a bookshelf."

That brought reaction from other councillors and Mayor Dave Lovell.

While he's generally in favour of user fees, he believes charging a fee to use the library isn't worth the cost.

"If you're going to put a fee on it, it's going to have to be cost-effective," said Lovell. "In this case it doesn't make sense."

O'Reilly bristled at the suggestion of library user fees.

"People should not have to pay for the privilege of reading. That's not on with me."

Best's other suggestions included looking at using volunteers for restocking shelves and corporate sponsorships for equipment.

The money for restoring the cut hours and hiring back staff will come out of the city's general operating fund surplus, budgeted at $140,000.