Saskatchewan Provincial Library

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

PTLDC Annual Reports Index

Mandate

The Saskatchewan Provincial Library co-ordinates the province's public library system; facilitates the development of a multitype library system of public, special, post-secondary education and school libraries; and encourages cooperation and resources sharing among libraries throughout the province. The provincial public library system provides services through a network of municipal, regional, local and northern community public libraries. The Provincial Library supports a province-wide electronic library network to achieve this mandate.

Legislation

The Public Libraries Act, 1996 and The Libraries Co-operation Act ensure equitable access to basic library services by all residents of Saskatchewan. The former establishes a structure for the provincial public library system and the latter provides a mechanism for formalized cooperation among all types of autonomous libraries.

The Public Libraries Act, 1996 recognizes that the following are fundamental components to a provincial public library system: a Saskatchewan union catalogue composed of the records of public, academic, special and school libraries; interlibrary loans; reciprocal borrowing; and, autonomous library boards.

In 1996, The Libraries Co-operation Act established the Multitype Library Board to advise and make recommendations to the minister and to Saskatchewan libraries of all types on the development of the multitype library system.

Structure

The Provincial Library is a branch of the Saskatchewan Learning department with four units:

• Public Library Planning
• Multitype Library Development
• Library Network Development
• Library Planning and Administration

The Provincial Library operates in partnership with ten public library systems and the Multitype Library Board to develop policy for the delivery of services to all residents of Saskatchewan.

Finances/Grants

Provincial government grants to public libraries and multitype library initiatives in 2005-2006 will amount to $6,973,000. This includes a 2% increase in resource sharing grants, a continuation of the $250,000 grant created in 2003-2004 to support Aboriginal library services, and $5,000 for the Northern Library Bursary which funds northern residents who want to take post-secondary library training. The policy framework for funding public libraries is to support resource sharing. Provincial funding does not support local services which includes salaries for branch library staff.

There are three funding pools for regional libraries, municipal libraries, and the north. The regional library pool is distributed using the formula outlined in The Public Libraries Regulations, 1996, based on three components: headquarters operations, library material expenditures, and public hours of opening. The two municipal libraries, Saskatoon and Regina are funded for their role in province-wide resource sharing. The northern library system and northern community libraries are also funded for their role in resource sharing and for providing public library services to residents in the north.

Activities – Network and Automation

CommunityNet
CommunityNet, an initiative to bring high-speed Internet access, on a virtual private network, to libraries throughout Saskatchewan, is a result of the Canada/Saskatchewan Infrastructure Works Program; in cooperation with the Saskatchewan Library Trustees Association and the Information Technology Office of the provincial government. 162 of the province's 320 public libraries have been connected to CommunityNet as of March 31, 2005. An additional 30 public libraries are connected to CommunityNet because they are located in schools.

Industry Canada – Community Access Funding (CAP)
Provincial Library administered the Canada/Saskatchewan Agreement on Community Access to distribute $480,000 in federal funding in 2004/05 to sustain 195 CAP sites in public libraries.

Seamless Access – One Stop Access and Retrieval
The Provincial Library continues the implementation and training for a project to provide one stop access and retrieval to library resources. The scope of the project remains province-wide and multiyear. Citizens across the province, using the Internet, are verified as Saskatchewan citizens and able to access information databases and other library services in a single search from home or office. They are also able to make requests directly to borrow material, using a web form and/or from a gateway search through the interlibrary loan system software. The 10 public library systems continue to cooperate on the province-wide online question-and-answer reference service "Ask Us". New servers and software upgrades have been undertaken to improve both the reliability and the capacity of the services. A promotion campaign for e-library services is planned for the fall of 2005, in conjunction with the province's centennial celebrations.

Provincial Library migrated to Horizon ILS with its current clients - Chinook Regional Library, Pahkisimon Nuye?áh Library System, and La Ronge Public in July 2004.

Activities – Other Developments:

Aboriginal Library Services
The public library systems are undertaking initiatives in support of Aboriginal Library Services; these include providing cultural awareness training for staff and trustees, partnerships with community organizations in support of literacy initiatives, developing collections of Aboriginal interest, programming that features Aboriginal culture, artists and writers, taking story telling programs into parks or communities where many Aboriginal people live; and, introducing an annual Aboriginal Story Telling Week in libraries throughout the province.

The results of the second annual province-wide Aboriginal Storytelling Week surpassed last year's first Aboriginal Storytelling Week with an increased participation. In 2004, 18 communities hosted 21 events with 2,813 people attending. In 2005, 29 communities hosted 42 events with 3,885 people attending.

Review of Financial Reporting
A Financial Reporting Manual was distributed to the 10 public library systems in December 2004. This will help Saskatchewan public libraries move toward the goal of ensuring that their financial statements comply with the recommendations of the Public Sector Accounting and Auditing Board (PSAAB) and are comparable across the public library sector. The manual also includes a section on governance and internal financial management controls.

Multitype Library Board
In 2004/05 the Multitype Library Board updated their strategic plan. The Board created a long-range plan for multitype development based on the framework of the original multitype strategic plan and their consultations with the library sectors. The Strategic plan is divided into four strategic directions, which include performance indicators and a series of goals and objectives. There are four primary strategic directions:

1. Develop the multitype system; strengthen partners by developing co-operative strategies to address emerging issues. Nurture and build relationships.
2. Implement the multitype library system; expand access to content, including digitized information; broaden multitype partnerships; and, build capacity of the partners.
3. Connect libraries of all types to provide equitable access to and delivery of information; broaden the focus to include the way information is developed, organized and presented to the people of Saskatchewan.
4. Promote participation in the multitype library system; promote an image of multitype partners that illustrates their changing and central role in access to information.

Multitype Library Board Accomplishments 2004-2005

The Board's activities in 2004-05 focused on raising the profile of libraries and information providers and making their products and services more accessible to Saskatchewan citizens. Key highlights are:

• Created an engaging campaign to promote libraries. The campaign will be launched province-wide in September 2005, during centennial celebrations. It promotes libraries' online or "e-library" services. Campaign products, images and messaging were created with a single, consistent theme that can be used by all types of libraries in the province.
• Increased citizen access to quality information by working with Multitype Database Licensing partner libraries to jointly license three new electronic databases: The Cochrane Library (health research), Canadian Research Index, and Canada Info Desk.
• Began developing a province-wide digitization strategy for libraries and information providers. Its purpose is to increase the profile of digital collections created by libraries, archives and other information providers; stimulate increased capacity to create quality digital collections; and increase citizen access to digital collections in Saskatchewan by making them easier to find and use.
• Identified key issues facing libraries and other information providers and developed strategies to address them.

Multitype Database Licensing Program
The Multitype Database Licensing Program (MDLP) is a province-wide program in which libraries pool funds to purchase access to electronic information resources - magazines, journals, newspapers, directories, reference books, and other information products accessed via the Internet. The program provides access to about 7,000 unique journal titles in full text.

In 2004 patrons of Saskatchewan libraries accessed the magazine, journal and newspaper databases 441,777 times. This means usage is up by 29,083 over 2003, or about a 7% increase. Users performed 1,192,103 searches within these databases. This works out to a per use cost of about one dollar, and about 38 cents per search. The total value of the program was about $450,000 in 2004.

Partners in 2004/05 include all K to 12 schools through Saskatchewan Learning and 39 libraries covering all ten public library systems; the two university library systems, libraries on the four campuses of SIAST, and five small colleges; plus twenty special libraries, and the Provincial Library. Provincial Library takes responsibility for coordination of the program.

The MDLP program has significantly enhanced access to reliable information resources for citizens of Saskatchewan. By pooling funds, the overall contribution needed by any one library is greatly reduced. The program allows all libraries to have access to extensive resources that would otherwise be impossible for a small library to acquire. This program effectively extends access to all residents, the majority of whom still live in small urban, rural or remote communities. The databases can also be accessed from a user's home computer. Through this program, libraries are helping close the digital divide and ensure that all citizens have equitable access to the authoritative, quality information that is so important to learning, work and leisure in a global, knowledge-based economy.

New Products in 2004/05 Include:

The Cochrane Library
The MDLP partnered with the Health Quality Council to add a new health database, The Cochrane Library, for a three-year period. The agreement between the MDLP and Wiley InterScience was completed in August 2004 and continues to December 31^st, 2007. This database contains a collection of evidence-based medicine reports, including systematic reviews of health studies which can be used by Saskatchewan residents to learn about the results of recent health research.

Canadian Research Index and Canada Info Desk
In 2004, the MDLP added two new Micromedia ProQuest databases, the Canadian Research Index and Canada Info Desk to its subscriptions. Canada Info Desk is the most comprehensive online directory package in Canada and it includes: Associations Canada, Canadian Almanac & Directory, Canadian Environmental Directory, Financial Services Canada, Governments Canada, Directory of Libraries in Canada. All six directories plus Canadian Research Index and Education Collection, which is a part of CBCA Education, are available on the new Canadian Information Resource Centre (CIRC II) interface, and can be searched separately, or seamlessly all at the same time, or in any combination.

Serials Solution
In 2004, the MDLP acquired a subscription to Serials Solutions' E-Journal Access & Management Suite, which provides one A-to-Z list of all of the full-text magazine and journal titles to which we subscribe in both the Gale and Micromedia ProQuest databases. The list can be searched by journal title or browsed by subject. The journal linking function, if used inside the library, provides a clickable link from the list to the actual journal in the database. Provincial Library also purchased MARC records for all full-text titles and imported the records into the Saskatchewan union catalogue (SUNCAT). A user can search a journal title in SUNCAT and be taken directly to that journal in the MDLP licensed databases. The A to Z list also includes the print journals in the Library Science collection, so users will know that a title is available through Provincial Library even if the journal does not appear in full text in the databases.

Conclusion

Provincial Library continues to implement initiatives that support equitable access to library resources and services for Saskatchewan people.

PTLDC Annual Reports Index