Newfoundland To Shutter More than Half its Libraries; Library Journal, 5/10/16

Bob Warburton, Library Journal; Newfoundland To Shutter More than Half its Libraries:

"Outrage grows across Canada over a plan to close 54 of 95 public libraries in the eastern province of Newfoundland and Labrador, many of them in rural or sparsely populated areas.

Twenty-seven libraries will be shut this year and 27 more in 2017, leaving only 41 facilities to serve the entire province, under a plan being implemented by the Provincial Information and Library Resources Board (PILRB), which saw its federal funding slashed. Dale Kirby, Newfoundland and Labrador’s minister of education and early childhood development, whose office controls provincial library funds, cut library funding by $1 million to about $10.7 million, PILRB executive director Andrew Hunt told LJ. The 2016 provincial budget originally included a $1.7 million cut for libraries, but Hunt said an additional $700,000 was restored as a “reinvestment” for services. That money, he said, will help improve ebook and books-by-mail programs, ensure that capital programs will stay funded, and protect money for software maintenance and upgrades.

Sixty-four employees will lose their jobs as libraries transition to a regional service model."