The next meeting of the library board will take place on Monday November 21, 2011 at 6 pm at TRL. As per the board’s request, the City Librarian will report back on other possible revenue sources that could potentially make up the so called $8 million shortfall for the 10% budget cut.
It is anticipated that the Ford’s 8 new citizen board members and the 3 councillors from his EXC will vote in robotic unison to approve the City Librarian’s recommendation to consider a further reduction of 4.3%, which represents a further reduction of 61 FTEs (this is in addition to the 5.7% cut and reduction of 100 FTEs that was approved at the October 17th Board meeting). The 4.3% budget cut will result in the reduction in open hours, collections and staff. The very core services of TPL. The very thing the Mayor said would not happen.
17% Staff Cut Since 1998: The Biggest Cut in the City of Toronto in a Direct Service Delivery Department
Another key component in the Mayor’s election platform was the improvement of customer service. The City Librarian’s recommendation to approve a further 4.3% reduction to the 2012 operating budget means the elimination of another 61 FTEs on top of the 100 that were cut last month. This means at least 1 library worker less per library. And this is only the recommended staffing cuts for 2012. The City Librarian has recommended further cuts to staff for 2013 and 2014. Many of the cuts will be achieved through the expansion of the RFID self-serve technology – technology which was approved by the former Board as a way to expand open hours, is now being used to achieve further reductions in staff. No machine, no matter how charming, can replace the excellent direct customer service delivery we provide to Torontonians.
Some interesting facts about our workforce:
· 75% female
· Vast majority of library workers are Torontonians too
· We have 1,150 part-time workers which constitute half of our bargaining unit
· Staff cut in Home Library Service – this is a service that delivers library materials to seniors and shut-ins
· Our front-line librarian classification has decreased in numbers since 1998
· The organization is stagnant and there is no new hiring except for management, pages and temporary, mostly part-time librarian positions
· Our public service assistants, those workers who are involved in the circulation function at the library, have decreased the most dramatically and 50% of them are now part-time workers
· We no longer have a classification of children’s librarian
· It takes a part-time worker who is seeking full time work, approximately 5-7 years to secure employment (based on submissions to our 2009 bargaining survey)
· Service and librarian position eliminated at Sick Kids Hospital (service also eliminated at Bridgepoint Hospital)
· Huge influx of adult pages now in the library who are attempting to support families on minimum wage
· No official recognition of the Library Technician’s Diploma
· Part-time workers receive no benefits from the organization and very few are eligible for pensions
19,444 Open Hours Cut: Represents the Closure of 9 Neighbourhood Branches
Prior to amalgamation, open hours were cut in all the predecessor library systems. This meant library hours eliminated in the morning, less evening hours, Friday night service eliminated, no Sunday service in some systems and on and on. Hours were slowly being reintroduced, albeit at the expense of staff, with the aggressive introduction by senior management of self-serve technology. Now self-serve technology is being used to achieve budget cuts.
Torontonians have demanded in each and every consultation since amalgamation that they want library hours increased.
The newly elected library board chair, Councillor Paul Ainslie, Ward 43, Scarborough East, posted this in response to a tweet complaining about Sunday service hour cuts at the library:
“When I was a kid libraries weren’t open you stayed at home with your family…and it wasn’t that long ago either :)”
Councillor Paul Ainslie, Twitter, October 18, 2011
Ainslie’s “Father Knows Best” reply pretty well says it all.
(For a complete list of open hour cuts, see the attached TPL senior management document that was leaked to the media and has not been officially made available).
A Whopping 27.1% Cut to the Library Collections Budget for 2012 Alone!
The City Librarian is proposing the elimination of a further $1,890,000 from the library collections budget. The library collections budget, therefore, will be permanently reduced by 11% resulting in the loss of approximately 106,000 library items. The City Librarian further proposes in order “to phase-in service hours cuts, an additional one-time collections budget reduction up to $2.8m may be required in 2012, resulting in a total collections budget reduction up to $4.8m in 2012. This represents 27.1% of the total collections budget.
Less Atwood, less Ondaatje, less Fraser, less Tankard, less Swan, less Porter, less Fong-Bates, less Barclay, less Lam.
The reductions to the collections budget will result in longer wait times for popular materials and a reduction in the accessibility of a variety of materials. Public library collections are fundamentally about public access to knowledge. The vibrancy and democracy of our City relies on the public library as an accessible and inclusive space to develop that knowledge.
Who are the Advocates for Toronto Public Library?
City Librarian? One would think the City Librarian as a professional librarian would be an advocate of the library service. She has recommended the most devastating cuts in the history of TPL. In fact, she doesn’t consider the elimination of 100 library workers as a service reduction at all.
The Chair of the Library Board? As a member of the mayor’s Executive Committee and now Chair of the Library Board, Councillor Paul Ainslie is the chief gravy finder. In vote, after vote, after vote, he considers the library gravy and supports cuts. At the September board meeting, he led a walkout during the union’s deputation so that quorum was lost. Is this the kind of leadership that Torontonians deserve?
The Toronto Public Library Board? The library board has a legislated mandate under the Public Libraries Act to act in the best interests of the library service. Mr. Stephen Dulmage, Mr. Michael Foderick (newly elected vice chair), Ms. Kimberely Korinek, Mr. Cameron MacKay, Mr. Ross Parry, Mr. Kenneth Stewart, Mr. Benjamin Wulfhart and Ms. Andrea Zammit voted for the library cuts at their very first board meeting, within the very first hour of the meeting.
Councillors Robinson and Palacio? These councillors sit on the TPLB as well as serve on the Mayor’s Executive Committee. They represent Ward 26, Don Valley West and Ward 17, Davenport respectively, and they were appointed to the board in December 2010. Since then, both voted to close the Urban Affairs Library at Metro Hall, voted for the elimination of the sole librarian position at the Hospital for Sick Kids thereby eliminating that service entirely, voted for the elimination of service at Bridgepoint Hospital, voted for the elimination of 100 library workers, voted for cuts to the collection budget…
(Councillors Doucette and Davis, representing Ward 13 Parkdale-High Park and Ward 31 Beaches-East York respectively, remain the two lone voices in support of the library service).
Mayor Rob Ford? Enough said.
If there are Less Librarians, Less Open Service Hours, Less Books,
is this still a Library?
Torontonians have been gravely disrespected. 13,000 in the city’s own consultation process spoke in support of libraries. Almost 50,000 have signed the union’s petition and sent letters to their councillors on numerous occasions. Deputant after deputant got up at the July and September Executive Committee historical all night meetings and spoke in favour of libraries. And for those efforts they were called communists and loafers because some attended during day hours when they “should have been working”. Some of Toronto’s, indeed Canada’s, greatest writers spoke out in support of the TPL. Hundreds of citizens participated in a summer time contest on “My Library Matters to Me” producing essays, poems, videos and drawings.
Rob Ford ran on a political platform of respect for taxpayers. Whatever happened to respect for the citizens of Toronto? In his inestimable arrogance, he has now declared that he will be running again in the next municipal election in 2013. His popularity is now sitting at 37%, the second lowest of any mayor in Canada, the greatest plunge in popular support for a mayor ever in but a short 12 months.
We beat the Ford administration back on library closures this past summer. We now need to beat them back on these budget cuts too. The next meeting of the Toronto Public Library board takes place on Monday November 21st at 6 pm at the Toronto Reference Library (789 Yonge St., at Asquith, one block north of Bloor). Please contact the board secretariat Nancy Marshall (nmarshall@torontopubliclibrary.ca) and register for a deputation. Your presence is more powerful than you think.
Is Your Councillor a Supporter of Library Services?
Here is a list of the Councillors who spoke out against closures but now seem to be entertaining the idea that cuts to service hours, staffing and collections will not diminish the library service.
Please get in touch with your councillor and ask that they defend library services and ensure that their vote is delivered in support of TPL at the January 17, 18 and 19, 2012 City of Toronto Council meeting to deal with the 2012 budget.
Torontonians Support Their Library Service
In an article last week in the local media, an astute reporter noted, “…the fundamental truth: Torontonians value the whole [library] system. Cut any of it, and they’ll notice”.
For more information:
Email: info@local4948.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TPLWULocal4948
Twitter: @local4948
Twitter: @4948President
Key dates:
Budget Committee, Toronto Public Library Board Meeting, Tuesday November 1, 2012, Toronto Reference Library, 4:00 p.m.
General Membership Meeting, Thursday November 11, 2012, Northern District, 6:30 p.m.
Toronto Public Library Board Meeting, Monday November 21, 2012, Toronto Reference Library, 6:00 p.m.
City Council, 2012 Capital and Operating Budgets, Tuesday January 17, 2012 to Thursday January 19, 2012
