Northwest Territories Public Library Services

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

PTLDC Annual Reports Index

Mandate

To provide all residents of the Northwest Territories with equal access to quality Library Services to meet their educational, cultural and recreational needs, regardless of economic circumstances, language, age, gender, disability or geographic location.

Legislation

The NWT Library Act was legislated in 1968 and amended in 1974.

Structure

The NWT Public Library Services is a unit of Education, Operations and Development within the Department of Education, Culture and Employment.

The NWT Consortium, administered by the Public Library Service (PLS), provides the integrated library system for all public libraries.

There are nine public libraries. Daily operations are managed locally by municipal governments. The PLS provides collection development and technical services for eight of the libraries, and maintains a rotating collection to augment collections of smaller libraries. The PLS provides training and guidelines as needed to help maintain the libraries.

PLS provides a free "Borrower by Mail" service to residents in communities without libraries. Virtual Libraries exist in several communities and provide Internet access and a small number of books to residents.

Finances

Direct Public Library Support: $298,000 Public Library Services currently supports public libraries in nine communities. The specific arrangements are unique to each community. Six communities maintain contribution agreements with PLS, two communities have GNWT employees working in the libraries, and one community currently receives no direct funding. Funding received through contribution agreements is used to cover a variety of expenses, including staffing, office supplies, and utilities.

Municipalities cover all other expenses.

Collections Budget: $85,000
PLS purchases, catalogs, and processes materials for the eight smaller public libraries. Yellowknife Public Library purchases and processes their own materials.

Individual libraries use donations, grants, and municipal funding to augment their collections.

Other Support:
Other Territorial support includes operation of PLS headquarters, software licensing, and training costs.

Activities - Network and Automation

In December 2004, the NWT Library Consortium, composed of Public Library Services, Aurora College, the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, and the Legislative Library, went live with a combined ILS. Available from the websites of all agencies, it allows residents to browse the collections of all agencies. Most materials can be interloaned from any agency.

Of the nine public libraries in the Northwest Territories, five do not use automated circulation. In 2005, Public Library Services plans to train staff at two of these locations to use automated circulation. Due to size and staffing concerns, it may not be possible to convert the other three libraries.

Activities - Other Developments

The Community Libraries Project is a partnership between PLS and College Services. Funded by the Literacy Strategy, it will create 5-6 libraries and help support one library that has been surviving on sporadic grant funding.

As the new libraries are funded from the Literacy Strategy, they will become community literacy outreach centers. All of the proposed libraries will be housed in existing school libraries, but they will be expanded and open to the public on weekends and evenings. The NWT Literacy Council will be offering a literacy outreach training workshop for all NWT librarians, including the new ones early in 2006. NWT Library Services will provide training and support for library operations, such as cataloguing and circulation.

Funding for the new community libraries will include a part-time librarian salary, book purchases and materials for community literacy programming. NWT Library Services and College Services are in the process of reviewing applications from the communities. The new public libraries are expected to be operational in the fall. This new community libraries initiative, with its strong literacy emphasis, will provide services to people of all ages in communities with literacy needs.

PTLDC Annual Reports Index