Federal library funding shelved

Monday, 23 April 2012 02:00 Kelowna Daily Courier

The Okanagan Regional Library has lost more than $80,000 in federal funding, but computers won't disappear from 21 branches anytime soon, if ever.  The federal Conservatives have thrown the Community Access Program (CAP) funding into the trash, effective March 31. The $15-million national program, established in 1995, provided Internet access at libraries, community centres and other public locations, giving low-income Canadians a lifeline to the world, including a way to apply for jobs and to get help with tax forms. The program paid for web connections, rent in community centres, and for co-ordinators and technical support.  The regional library system received about $4,000 for every CAP site, said Lesley Dieno, ORL's executive director. "Not all of our libraries are CAP sites, but the bulk of them are. You can't pay staff with it but it offsets some of the costs."  The federal funds reduced the cost of data phone lines, she said, noting the computer and communication allocation comprises four per cent of the $15-million ORL budget.  The loss of the funds will be reported to board members at their next meeting on May 16 and they would made a budget decision in November for 2013.  "They'll have to decide when and how they would replace that loss. I don't think the board would be looking to do away with all the computers or anything like that," said Dieno. "There's no way they could. So then, it becomes a matter of how are we going to recoup some of that revenue."  ORL library branches attract thousands of computer users.  "We still, amazingly enough, have to provide places for people to sit and wait for a computer in most of our branches. We didn't think we would need that. The promise was: computers will be so cheap that everybody can afford them. But it's not happening and I'm not sure (the demand) is ever going to go away," said Dieno.  "One of the things we do is provide information, and access to culture and entertainment. All of those things nowadays are happening over the Internet and through computers of one sort or another, whether it's the computer in your phone or the one you have on your desktop or a laptop or whatever. That's the way we get a lot of stuff these days."  The ORL board will have to juggle all of the increased demands, from a salary increase for library workers to the cost of CDs, e-books and audiobooks, she said.