Nova Scotia Provincial Library

Annual Report
Provincial and Territorial Library Directors Council (PTLDC)
2003 - 2004

PTLDC Annual Reports Index

Mandate:

The Nova Scotia Provincial Library provides leadership in coordinating library services throughout the province, promotes library cooperation at national, regional, and provincial levels, and represents Nova Scotia library interests in national, regional, and provincial forums. It acts as a champion and resource for public libraries, working with them to provide the best possible library service to all Nova Scotians.

Core Business Functions:

• Provides leadership at provincial and national levels on matters relating to the management and dissemination of information and the provision of high quality public library service
• Promotes resource sharing among Nova Scotia libraries through development of electronic networks, coordinating projects such as consortia purchasing of on-line products
• Manages and administers the integrated library system on which 8 regional public libraries depend for their daily operations
• Provides specialized services, such as centralized cataloguing, integrated library system training and support, interlibrary lending locations, and a loan collection of professional development materials
• Provides expert consultation, facilitates training to public libraries, and assists in the promotion of public library services.
• Seeks potential initiatives and partnerships to expand public library services and represents public library interests in relevant forums in NS and across the country
• Provides funding support to regional libraries through grant programs

Structure:

Nova Scotia Provincial Library is a Division of the Higher Education Branch of the Department of Education. The Provincial Library has three sections: Administration, Technical Services and User Services.

Legislation:

The Libraries Act with pursuant Regulations was last revised in 1989. Grants for regional public library boards are provided for by Regulation.

Grants/Finances:

A Regional Public Libraries Funding Review Committee met from July to October 2003 and reviewed current funding arrangements and make recommendations to the Minister for the fiscal period April 2004 - March 2007. As well as funding levels, the committee recommended that the Minister request that a portion of the Strategic Initiatives Fund, a component of the Federal/Provincial Infrastructure Agreement, be designated for public library capital projects. The Minister accepted the report and made the Infrastructure request but did not provide funding at the recommended levels for 2004-05.

Regional library funding for 2004-05 increased by $1 million over the previous year (recommended increase was $1.7 million). Of this, $750 K was surplus money from 2003-04 and $250 K new money in the 2004-05 budget. The Minister has indicated that it is his intention to add the $1 million to the base for 2005-06, if he gets Cabinet support.

Library boards are pleased with this considerable increase in funding, since previous increases have been $250 K in 2003-04, $50 K in 2002-03 and $100 K in 2001-02.

The Provincial Library budget was reduced by a further $20,000 this year. The 2003-04 budget is $1,470,300.

Activities - Network & Automation:

• Migration to the Unicorn ILS continues. The server was purchased in March 2003, the first data conversion took place in May 2004, and the first training session has been held. Staff at NSPL and in the regions will be testing the converted data during June and July.
• On April 22, the 2nd Open Meeting of the Nova Scotia Digital Collections Initiative (NSDCI) was held at the Council of Nova Scotia Archives Spring Conference. Eric Stackhouse, Interim NSDCI Chair, welcomed approximately 50 people from a wide range of organizations active in creating and managing digital resources. Reviewing achievements, he focussed on the creation of the NSDCI website http://nsdci.library.ns.ca/ , which provides tools to facilitate collaboration among members as well as one-stop access to digitization resources such as standards and funding opportunities. As well, the site offers a unique approach to providing an inventory of Nova Scotia digital projects http://nsdci.library.ns.ca/invent.shtml, for which it has been recognised by the Inventory of Canadian Digital Initiatives. As it moves into its third year, the NSDCI will focus on playing an advocacy role for digitization and on joint training opportunities.

Activities - Other:

• The Nova Scotia Union Catalogue was retired on January 1, 2004 For many years, the Nova Scotia Union Catalogue was the central location tool used to find locations in Nova Scotia for interlibrary loan requests. It had the distinction of being the oldest union catalogue in Canada. At one time the Reference Services section of the Provincial Library was known as the "Union Catalogue" to many Nova Scotia libraries, even though the catalogue was only part of the services offered by the Reference Section. All the cards have been recycled.
• Public library partnerships have been initiated with, the Canadian Diabetes Association, and the Parkinson Society of Canada. Breast Cancer Action Nova Scotia, in association with Nova Scotia Public Libraries, will be presenting a province-wide breast health awareness program.
• The winners of the Hackmatack Children's Choice Book Award 2004 were announced at the award ceremony on Friday, May 28 in Moncton, NB. Winners were: Alan Cumyn's The Secret Life of Owen Skye for English fiction, Karen Levine's Hana's Suitcase for English nonfiction, and Lucia Cavezzali's Opération Juliette in the French category. The Award ceremony was the culmination of a week during which sixteen of the nominated Canadian authors visited participating schools and libraries in New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and the Prince Edward Island. Approximately three hundred reading groups, and thousands of children from grades four to six, participated this year by reading the thirty nominated books.
• The Adopt-a-Library Literacy Program recently rounded a big corner in its efforts to become a nationally recognized program, with the release of its own professionally designed poster. The attractive poster features a serge color theme and depicts interaction between children and municipal and RCMP police officers. The poster will be distributed across the county to libraries, schools and business that participate in this winning reading initiative that has as its slogan, Fighting crime one book at a time.
• Trudy Amirault and Eric Stackhouse attended the Community Technology Centers' Network (CTCNet) 13th annual conference in Seattle, Washington in June 2004. Titled Building Connected Communities: The Power of People & Technology, the conference will explore strategies for lowering the digital divide. CTCNet is similar to CAP in its vision. They will join counterparts from Industry Canada and CAP to represent a Canadian perspective at the conference.
• Public Library Week
• NSPL staff continued to represent public libraries on the 211 Nova Scotia Committee and the Coastal Communities Network. A "grown in NS" initiative, Be well connected, is the Health and Wellness Information Referral Line for Lunenburg County and began operation in March. This is a joint project of Lunenburg County Community Health Board, South Shore Regional Library, South Shore Health, and the Nova Scotia Health Network. Lunenburg County is the first rural area in Canada to establish this kind of service - similar to the 211 service available in urban centres. Plans are to merge with the NS 211 service when it is established.
• In January 2004, CBC Radio's Maritime Noon featured libraries on its call-in show. Just prior to the call-in portion of the show, there was a 10 minute segment on bookmobile service from Colchester-East Hants Regional Library, where bookmobile service ended in December 2003, and South Shore Regional Library, where mobile library service is alive and well. The topic of the call-in portion of the show was What services do you want from your library? The number of bookmobiles in NS has dropped from 22 in 1980 to 7 in 2004.
• Colchester-East Hants Regional Library, in partnership with the Truro Rotary Club, held a very successful winter reading program Read to Feed which helped buy gifts for youth overseas through the organization Heifer International, which helps families in third world countries become more self reliant through gifts of livestock or seedlings. For every 100 pages or 5 picture books the children read, they received one share. With the 860 shares earned by the end of the program, participants contributed to purchases of a heifer, 1 sheep, 1 camel, 2 flocks of chicks, 2 beehives and tree seedlings.
• Nova Scotia decided not to renew its VISUNET Partnership with CNIB. Participating libraries agreed that the use of the program did not justify its cost. As an alternative way to help serve print disabled citizens, the libraries agreed to:
  • commit to purchasing unabridged audio in digital format
  • make spoken work audio available on ILL to print disabled users
  • support expansion of the Literature for the Blind postal rate to include all print disabled persons
  • support expansion of the library Book Rate to cover non-book materials
  • purchase audio in MP3 format
  • investigate group purchase of download services such as audible.com
  • work with Atlantic publishers to provide digital audio versions of their books
• In addition, Michael Colborne from NSPL will serve on the Working Group to Define the Nationwide Network for Equitable Library Services.
• A pilot project, "Government@Your Library," is being developed as a partnership between public libraries, CAP, and Service Nova Scotia. Sites for the pilot (one library site and one non-library CAP site in each area) will be in Cape Breton, HRM , and Western Counties. Training is expected to be held in June with roll-out of the pilot project in July. Evaluation is tentatively scheduled for November.
• Halifax Public Libraries won for the second consecutive year the American Library Association's prestigious John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Award for its promotion of the 2003 Summer Reading Program, entitled Summer Reading Quest. The Library also won the award in 2003, for promotion of its 2002 Summer Reading Program. They also won a LibraryNet Best Practices award for its IT Skills Project. The library developed an array of pre-packaged programs to meet customer demand for courses on IT-related topics. These kits allow staff to present any one of nine IT skills programs to their community.
• The McKay Memorial Library in Shelburne is featured on the December 2004 page of Sirsi Corporation's annual corporate. Each year the company solicits photos of libraries from its clients for use in its calendar. The selected photo shows the exterior of the McKay Memorial Library on a winter's day.
• Western Counties Regional Library received a Best Practices award from LibraryNet for its Study Smart project. The objective of Study Smart was to create homework help pages specifically for teens who are already comfortable in a web environment and to introduce the library's online resources to first-year high school students and their teachers in the three counties the library serves. A set of Study Smart web pages was created to give online help with writing papers, bibliographies and research methods for both the Internet and the library, and web awareness. A tour of the online library and a collection of recommended websites are also included.
• In November 2003, Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library hosted a National Innovation and CAP Summit in the north shore town of Pictou. Just over 100 delegates from across Canada and two from Ireland attended the four-day event, which was sponsored by Industry Canada. The theme of the session was maireannachd (pronounced marra-nock) a Gaelic word for "carrying on" or "moving forward". The phrase represented the current transitional stage faced by CAP and the hope that the program will be a part of Canada's future. The first two days of the conference, The Innovation Summit, was by invitation only and showcased the best innovative practices from across Canada and examined many important issues, such as the status of e-communities, service delivery, the digital divide, sustainable development, equal access for all citizens, and more. The next two days, the National CAP Summit, focussed on the sustainability needs of the program. By the end of the session the delegates had written a one-page declaration regarding CAP's future and the need for a national plan.
• The Nova Scotia Library Association paid a special tribute to Dr. Norman Horrocks (former Director of the Dalhousie School of Library and Information Studies) by announcing the establishment of the "Norman Horrocks Award for Library Leadership" which will be awarded annually by NSLA for leadership in the Nova Scotia library community beginning in 2004.

Issues:

• Population shifts continue to be a concern. The Funding Review Committee did not address the issue, deciding again to fund public libraries entirely on the basis of population.
• The largest part of the grant increase for 2004 came as unused funds from the previous fiscal year and is not currently in the base funding for the next year. If this amount does not get added to the base, public libraries will be in deep financial trouble in 2005.

PTLDC Annual Reports Index