Prince Edward Island

Provincial Library Service

Annual Report
Provincial and Territorial Library Directors Council (PTLDC)
2005

PTLDC Annual Reports Index

Mission Statement

The mission of the Provincial Library Service is to provide an efficient and effective public library service to meet the needs of Islanders for information, education and recreation through the provision of access to library resources regardless of geographic location.

Legislative

The Public Libraries Act govern public library service delivery in PEI. It is available at (www.gov.pe.ca/law/statutes/pdf/p-31_1.pdf)

Structure

The Provincial Library Service is the responsibility of the Ministry of Community and Cultural Affairs within the Division of Culture, Heritage and Libraries. The general management and operations, including policy, planning, staffing, collections and technical services are provided by the province through the Provincial Library Service. The local community provides 26 local libraries facilities and provides for the local library facility maintenance and facility operations. Local friends groups and trustees support the work of programming at the local level.

Services to Government, Public Libraries and Library Systems

All public libraries are under the jurisdiction of the provincial government. The local libraries are not separately governed or financed, except for the facility.

Grants / Finances

The Budget for the library service was approximately $2.1 million. No grants or other funding is available to outside organizations that provide library services.

Activities

The library was a test partner for the delivery of the Library and Archives Canada / TD Summer Reading Program. This program provided support and materials at an unprecedented level allowing local communities to concentrate on the delivery of programs rather than it's development. More children than normal participated and complete the program.

The French Services section of the library received several grants under the Quebec / PEI agreement. Projects included tours of the French authors Danielle Simard and Michel Noël, Lucie Papineau as well as the development of a French graphic novel collection.

A free copy of the children's book Omar On Ice written By Maryann Kovalski was provided to all Grade 1 students who visited their local public library. This project was part of the TD Canadian Children's Book Week project.

Public Library 70^th anniversary celebrations were held across PEI. This provided a great way to highlight and celebrate the contributions of libraries across the island. Celebrants included seniors who remembered when the library opened. One senior wrote that he thanks God for Andrew Carnegie every night in his prayers because of the significance of the Carnegie foundation in PEI.

The library also introduced library fees for overdue books. Late materials and materials that were never returned were becoming a real problem, particularly as the library was not able to replace copies that were not returned. Indications are that borrowing habits have changed and materials are being returned much sooner than before. This has made a significant impact on the availability of newer materials.

The library has partnered with other literacy organizations in an attempt to form a Literacy Research Network (LRN). This is dependent upon receipt of funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Current Issues

Library staff are very concerned about the ongoing ability of the library to purchase enough current newly published materials to meet the demand. The collection is aging and materials are being weeded at a greater rate than new acquisitions.

Indications are that recently retired staff will be replaced. This is a concern as a recent government program is attempting to reduce the size of government as a way to balance the books. The library had 3 people retire – it has been wonderful to see the support in the community, particularly the school library community for our services whose lobbying has ensured that services to them will not be reduced.

An aging computer infrastructure is also a concern. The library has been able to replace two larger key components (Dynix and the Z39.50 server) but we are concerned over the aging desktop infrastructure.

The library is also working towards the development of outcome measures. We will be studying outcomes of the Summer Reading Program as a starting point.

PTLDC Annual Reports Index