It served working people. It informed the middle class. It was founded on the notion that acquiring knowledge should not have a price tag, that books and periodicals and public lectures ought to be universal. And its sister facilities functioned successfully all across Canada. But then, came an administration that did not think so highly of this public service.
“The public library has less relevance,” its then administrator seemed to be saying. “It’s an inconvenience.”
Oh, just a moment. I’ll bet you think I’m speaking about our new Conservative government? I guess you thought I was accusing the current premier, Doug Ford, of calling Ontario’s public libraries “inconvenient.”
No. Actually, the picture I’ve just painted involved Uxbridge’s public library, better known then – about 1862 – as a Mechanics’ Institute. Originally founded three years before, Uxbridge’s Mechanics’ Institute came into existence, according to local historian Allan McGillivray’s book Tales from the Uxbridge Valley, when enterprising individuals gathered at the town’s Temperance Hall to organize public lectures, assemble an array of some 143 books, and make the talks and literature available at no cost for the edification of the everyday townspeople.
“A borrower was given a certain amount of time (to take and) to read a book and return it,” McGillivray wrote. “Those who lived more than a mile away were allowed double that time.”
But when the Mechanics’ Institute’s first librarian died, in 1862, the books were transferred to a local commissioner’s chambers and as a result allowing the public into his office to borrow the books, became a problem. That’s the inconvenience I referred to above. Although, I find it an interesting parallel that the current provincial government appears to be treating Ontario’s libraries – particularly those outside larger urban areas – as the 21st century equivalent of that 1862 “inconvenience,” and therefore not worth supporting.
Ten days ago, the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport announced it would experience a $60 million cut, resulting in a halving of the budgets for the Southern Ontario Library Service and the Ontario Library Service-North. The Toronto Star reached Barbara Franchetto, head of the southern service.
“We’ve always tried to be more lean and more effective,” she said. “But a 50 percent cut … will be significant.”
Culture Minister Michael Tibollo responded by saying, “Libraries across Ontario continue to receive funding … but after 15 years of reckless and out-of-touch Liberal government … change is here.”
So, let’s look at what the current Conservative administration considers reckless spending, or to use myword “an inconvenience.” The Uxbridge Public Library provides patrons with unlimited access to online databases, as well as OverDrive, World Almanac for Kids, FindMyPast and Ancestry.com, not to mention eBooks, Audiobooks, computers and guest Wi-Fi. Rather important, I’d suggest for students in need of online access after school hours, not to mention those who cannot afford high-end smart phones and iPads.
The library brings books to Uxbridge residents who cannot get to the old Mechanics’ Institute building on Toronto Street. It offers supervision for students required to write tests outside a classroom. There’s the provision of meeting rooms (I’ve often used them to offer book talks).
And the library provides inter-Library loans … or at least it did until 10 days ago. Thanks to the Ford government cuts, that service is gone. And you can bet, as Ms. Franchetto pointed out, there won’t be any new hires at the library either. That would be, in the government’s words, “reckless.”
About a week ago, I happened to be at the main branch of the London Public Library for a talk/presentation about one of my books. (I’ve appeared similarly at public libraries in Whitby, Owen Sound, Collingwood, Napanee, Woodstock, Oshawa and Pickering, to name a few.)
While at the London library, I noticed people – I suspected were homeless – receive special attention from staff. Librarians (I overheard) were helping a man and a woman check out job opportunities; they were also provided a cup of coffee and use of the washrooms. Yup, there’s another example of reckless spending, if ever I saw it.
Fortunately, as far back as the late 19th century, some people in Uxbridge saw the Mechanics’ Institute as a valuable addition to the town’s health, intelligence and prosperity. In the 1880s, Joseph Gould, farmer, entrepreneur, community leader and philanthropist, provided the land and the means to build it. It cost $4,200 to construct, housed 5,000 books, and launched what became a cornerstone of knowledge, public interaction and service to a growing town in central Ontario.
In fact, the Institute caught the eye of the then minister of education, George W. Ross (a Liberal who went on to become Ontario’s fifth premier) to applaud such spending as the first in the province for a town this size.
But, of course, such thinking and spending – under the Doug Ford administration – would undoubtedly be considered reckless and an inconvenience.