From the CEO

A Call to Librarians and the Community

The financial situation for libraries is in a very difficult place. As we get busier and busier, as people want more and varied things from their library, funding resources are drying up. They say we need to do more with less. Well, Libraries have always done more with less, but there does come a time, when we just can’t do any more than we are already doing.

Even Andrew Carnegie didn’t really believe in the “Free” Library. When he gave money for communities to build libraries, he required that the community charge a tax to keep the building up and running. I think that his intent was that a library should make everything freely (readily) available to anyone who came into the building.

The bottom line, and if Mr. Carnegie were alive today I think that he would agree, is that libraries and services cost money and someone has to pay for them. When are we librarians going to wake up and realize that we are doing ourselves and our communities a disservice by saying the library is free? It is incumbent upon us to find additional revenue sources to fund all that we offer to EVERY resident in our municipalities.

I feel certain that there are cost effective ways to modify the way we provide services to our communities. These are the questions that we need to ask regularly of ourselves and of each other, but I believe very strongly that we are making a huge mistake in throwing the word FREE around as if everything we do has no value.
People who know me, know that at this moment, I would include a expletive. Maybe I should. Maybe it would wake some people up. Shock the senses. Offend you enough to move toward action. When are we going to get tired enough of doing without, of underpaying our staff, of just eking by, and take action? It’s a simple action, really. First we must admit to ourselves that libraries are anything but free.
Everything that we do, everything that we offer costs money, and we have to have money to provide all the services and materials that the public wants and needs.
They say that we receive what we give. Well, then what do we expect when we keep saying that it’s free? We send the message that we don’t need the money.

MasterCard has a great campaign. They recognize that life and doing things don’t come without a cost, but the reward is . . . PRICELESS. Well isn’t that true about libraries as well? Ten bestsellers: $300.00; five DVDs: $100.00, a really funny performer: $300.00; a subscription to People Magazine, $157.99; The Library: PRICELESS but not FREE.

Carolyn

From the CEO

Solitude – a lost art?

It’s hard to rest in today’s culture. It takes a big commitment to unwind and recharge. The stress and intrusions of modern life sometimes can seem overwhelming — too many responsibilities, too much audiovisual stimuli. While juggling family and work demands and attending to domestic duties, when, where and how do people squeeze in solitude? For many, solitude may not be a high priority or seem to have importance in their lives. Some may even consider it a negative or anti-social condition. Yet solitude has enormous benefits for personal well being and is much more than a few stolen moments of private time in a busy schedule. For many, solitude is a short respite from a busy day, such as a bubble bath or a walk around the block. But anyone can spontaneously connect to his or her own version of solitude at many other times. One person may find solitude by saying a prayer or listening to a favorite piece of music. Another may find solitude making a cake, watching children play, admiring a flower, or simply looking up at the clouds in the sky. The simplest solitary activity or experience can induce feelings of well-being, comfort, contentment, self-awareness and reflection; these are all manifestations of solitude.

What if we unplugged more often? What if we gave ourselves permission to disconnect from technology and the “important” world of uber-communication? While for some of us this is easier than others, most of us could benefit from a little more unplugging and a little less emailing/texting/web or channel surfing in our lives. Most of us carry around more work correspondence and files on our phones than our parents stored in their entire office complexes. The temptation to check email and social media is always there. We need to unplug. And by unplug, I mean to be totally present and uninterrupted in our face-to-face interactions with family and friends. We need to put away anything that beeps, buzzes, glows, or otherwise draws our attention.

What’s funny is how hypocritical we often are about it. When our spouse, co-worker, or friend is busy on their phone, checking email, or being “obnoxiously” plugged in, we often get annoyed. However, when we’re the one doing it, it’s almost always “necessary.” How about unplugging by trying the following:

Unplug electronic devices that interrupt relationships

Refuse to put sensitive human interaction into electronic form

Don’t check email on weekends

Have a no-email workday

So my advice is simple – make sure you take plenty time to unplug! This might be extraordinarily difficult for some people, but the greater the difficulty, the more necessary it probably it is and the more profound the results. Balance, as always, is key.

What are your thoughts on this? Agree? Disagree? Share your ideas for unplugging!

Carolyn

From the CEO

FAQs About the Whitchurch-Stouffville Public Library Funding and Services

What do I get for my Whitchurch-Stouffville Public Library tax dollars?
Helpful, knowledgeable, conscientious staff.
More than 100,000 books, movies, music, e-books, and audio books for all ages and abilities that can be used in the library or borrowed for a period of time.
Access to reliable online databases, including thousands of full-text magazine and journal articles.
National, regional and local newspapers for use in the library.
Access to computers for connecting to the Internet or using Microsoft Office software.
Free access to wireless Internet in the library.
Entertaining and educational programs for children, adults, and families.
Your own personal research and entertainment centre.

When Can I Use the Whitchurch-Stouffville Public Library?
The Library is open 340 days a year. From Labour Day to Canada Day, the hours are Monday through Thursday 10:00 am to 8:30 pm, Friday and Saturday 1o:00 am to 5:00 pm, and Sunday 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm for a total of 62 hours per week. From Canada Day to Labour Day, the Library closes at 4:00 pm on Friday and Saturday and is closed on Sunday for a total of 54 hours per week. That is more than 3,100 hours per year.

Use of the library is not limited to the hours that the building is open. The Whitchurch-Stouffville Public Library is available to you 24 hours a day 7 days a week with an Internet connection and your library card. With these tools, you can ask questions on the askON link from our website, download e-books and audio-books, learn a new language with Mango Language Learning, access back issues of the Sun-Tribune newspaper, and complete research using any of the subscription databases which include full-text magazine and journal articles printable from your own printer.

What would it cost if I shopped instead borrowed from the library?
If you don’t use the library, in a year you might pay for:
2 Best Sellers $ 49.36
1 Travel Guide to . . .(place of your choice) $ 17.56
2 People and 1 Canadian House & Home magazines $ 15.89
1 trade paperback you thought looked good but never read $ 14.98
2 paperbacks bought in the airport or grocery store line $ 17.42
2 DVDs purchased $ 42.98
100 DVD rentals through the mail $ 167.88
Shopping Expenses $ 326.07

What does it cost for my family to use the library?
Library services cost taxpayers 7 cents per day $25.22

Unlimited loans on books, magazines, e-books, audio books, music, DVDs, databases, etc. included
Access to Internet computers and Wireless network  included

Total Cost per year $25.22

By using the library, you can save: $300.85 or more a year
Are tax dollars the only funds that pay to run the Library?
No, property taxes are 84% of the total expected income for the year. The other 16% comes from grants, fees, interest earned, the library book sale, and gifts and memorials to the library.

What if I have additional questions?
Contact Carolyn Nordheimer James, Chief Executive Officer, Whitchurch-Stouffville Public Library, 905 642-7323, ext. 223 or send an e-mail to: cnordheimerjames@whitchurch-library.on.ca.

From the CEO

The Toronto Public Library Workers Union is holding an essay and video contest called “Why My Library Matters to Me.” Those who express their ardour most creatively, originally, and persuasively will get to hang out, in groups of five, with either Margaret Atwood or another Canadian author.

The other prizes include Michael Ondaatje, Vincent Lam, Linwood Barclay, Anna Porter, Joy Fielding, Judy Fong Bates, Sylvia Fraser, Robert Rotenberg and Susan Swan.

The question of the day is with whom would you like to hang out, given the choice. If we are not limiting the choice to Canadian authors, then my first selection would be Diana Gabaldon, author of the famous Outlander series of novels. Why Gabaldon, you might ask? Well, other than the fact that she is both my favourite current author and also my daughter’s, I have several questions that I would like to pose to her given the opportunity. For instance, how did she come up with the characters of Claire Randall and Jamie Fraser? Are they based on people she knows? Those of us who devour Gabaldon’s books voraciously have come to think of Claire and Jamie as friends, if not family. And how does she proceed to gather the immense amount of detailed knowledge required throughout the plots of all her books? To hear Gabaldon attempt to answer these and other questions would provide for a most interesting discussion.

My second choice would be Roch Carrier. His story, The Hockey Sweater, is a tale of childhood, hockey, and a very disappointing mail-order mix-up. Carrier recounts life in the small village of Sainte-Justine, Quebec in 1946.  My questions for Carrier would include what was it like to be a fan of Maurice Richard and the Montréal Canadiens in the winter of 1946 and why did Roch Carrier write about this period of his life?

For many, “The Hockey Sweater” represents the lives of the many Canadians that are raised in rural parts of Quebec and the rest of Canada. It also represents the significance of the overwhelmingly popular Canadian pastime of ice hockey.

Carrier wrote « Nous vivions en trois lieux : l’école, l’église et la patinoire; mais la vraie vie était sur la patinoire. » (“We lived in three places – the school, the church and the skating rink – but our real life was on the skating rink.”) What was Carrier’s feeling when this line was placed on the back of the $5 bill on the 2001 series of Canadian banknotes? It has been said that in writing that one line, one simple quote, Roch Carrier summed up our entire country, our culture, our history, our people. What are his reactions to that statement?

These would be my two choices – authors  with whom I  would like to spend a few hours  – possibly over a glass of wine or a cup of coffee. What would your choices be and why?

Carolyn