COLUMN: Viewpoint – Libraries offer many benefits

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I was disappointed to read in last week’s Carillon that the Jake Epp Library is planning to cut opening hours in order to balance its budget. I was on the Jake Epp Library Board for a number of years. I was also one of the founding members of The Friends of the Jake Epp Library group. These past involvements have given me an ongoing interest and soft spot in my heart for the Steinbach library. At the banquet held during the grand opening of the present home of the library in 1997 I presented an oral history of its founding and growth I had researched and compiled. So I know just how long and hard dedicated people worked fifty years ago to open the first library in Steinbach. It makes me sad to see it forced to cut back on its services to the public.

Currently I am on the board of directors for the Friends of the Winnipeg Public Library so I am well aware that libraries having to shutter programming and their doors for additional hours is not unique to Steinbach. Here in Winnipeg the city has just announced closure of a community service office at the downtown Millennium branch, the province’s busiest library. The office handled some 30,000 requests for help during the past year. It’s a big loss especially to the newcomer, low income, and homeless people of the city who use the library.

The purpose of libraries has changed so much over the last couple of decades. They have become one of the few places in many communities where people can go free of charge to interact with others, use technology, access valuable information and escape from the elements.

Free library programming for children is a valuable asset to families who can’t afford expensive enrichment experiences for their kids and while we’d like to think home is a safe and comfortable place for children that is not always the case. The library can provide a welcome reprieve from a troubling home situation or a quiet space to do homework. It’s also a service that can offer a friendly face, a kind word and a chance to get out of the house for lonely seniors.

A look at the Jake Epp Library website provides an overview of all the wonderful programming they are offering for pre-schoolers, toddlers, teens, adults, budding writers, crafters, inventors, school age kids, new Canadians and homeschoolers. What a great resource for the community and one that should ideally be open to the public as much as possible.

Research illustrates how having library doors open as much as possible is good for a community. A Nova Scotia study found that when people went downtown to use a local library they often combined it with a shopping trip that benefited the businesses around the library. An American study concluded that having a modern library in a neighbourhood boosted property values. Libraries help provide valuable employment for people in a city. I noted in The Carillon story that cutting library hours will mean a drop in work hours for staff.

A report issued in October of 2024 revealed that Canadians made over a hundred million visits to libraries in the past year and 56 percent of Canadians visit a library annually. Libraries are important to Canadians. Eight years ago when Saskatoon decided to make draconian cuts to their library budget there was such a hue and cry from residents they changed course.

Perhaps if enough citizens raise concerns about the loss of accessible hours at the Jake Epp Library a funding increase can reverse that course as well.

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