Stephen Vance, Editor
If you’ve been feeling a sense of deja vu after reading after reading about the Meaford Library Board terminating the contract with the Owen Sound North Grey Union Public Library (OSNGUPL) which allows Sydenham residents full use of the facility, it’s because we were in pretty much the same situation five years ago.
The Meaford library board sees the contract with the OSNGUPL as unfair, as it only allows about a third of Meaford’s population to use the library in Owen Sound, and at a cost of $120,000 per year to this municipality it’s also expensive, especially because according to Meaford’s library board the OSNGUPL either can’t or won’t provide detailed user data in order for Meaford to be able to determine if they are getting value for the money being spent. The OSNGUPL, on the other hand, characterizes Meaford’s expectations and demands as ‘unrealistic’.
When this issue was in full throttle in 2011, I spent a considerable amount of time researching the non-resident fees of libraries across Ontario to see if what we were paying the OSNGUPL ($110,000 per year at the time) made any sense, and it didn’t.
The best (though unconfirmed) membership number we had to work with in 2011 was that 1,371 Sydenham residents had memberships at the OSNGUPL. Now, holding a membership card doesn’t necessarily mean that you actually use the facility, let alone use it frequently, but for the sake of argument let’s assume that all 1,371 Sydenham residents with membership at the OSNGUPL in 2011 were regular library users; that would mean that Meaford was paying $80 per Sydenham resident with an OSNGUPL library card.
That might not sound too bad, unless you looked around at what other libraries charged for non-resident fees. Keep in mind, we’re not talking about a bulk-buy of 1,371 memberships as is the case with Meaford, we’re talking about anyone walking in off the street and asking to purchase a non-resident membership.
At the time, the OSNGUPL non-resident fee for people that did walk in off the street was $160 per household; today, just five years later, the OSNGUPL non-resident fee is a whopping $500 per household.
What did I find in 2011? Here’s an excerpt from my December 15, 2011 editorial:
Our random sampling of 20 libraries in communities of varying size in Ontario showed that the average non-resident membership fee charged is $36.58.
Some of the libraries we sampled charge nothing for non-resident memberships. Windsor, Oshawa, and Lambton County all charge nothing, though non-resident members sometimes have restrictions placed on the number of items that can be borrowed at one time by a non-resident member.
The majority of libraries sampled charge a non-resident membership fee between $25 and $40.
In Caledon the library charges $25, Hamilton $40, Gravenhurst $25, Blue Mountains $37.50, Newmarket $30, Waterloo $35, and in Meaford the library charges $40 for non-resident memberships.
Certainly there are libraries that charge more. Barrie for example charges $60, Guelph charges $50, and in Vaughan non-resident members are charged $80.
But based on our own research, the average non-resident library membership fee in Ontario is less than $40, so you can understand why the Meaford Library Board felt that $80 per member at a library that “treats Meaford like a partner” was too much.
What about other union public libraries like the OSNGUPL? Here’s what I found in 2011:
The non-resident membership rates at Ontario Union Public libraries are as follows:
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Burk’s Falls, Armour & Ryerson Union Public Library – non-resident membership fee – $20.00
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Bruce Mines & Plummer Additional Union Public Library – non-resident membership fee – $20.00
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Perth & District Union Public Library – non-resident membership fee – $35
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South River Machar Union Public Library – non-resident membership fee – $5 adult, $10 family
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The Powassan & District Union Public Library – non-resident membership fee – $20 individual, $25 family
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Bonnechere Union Public Library (Eganville) – non-resident membership fee – $30 household.
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Owen Sound & North Grey Union Public Library – non-resident membership fee – $160/household
Sydenham residents have traditionally been very good at holding council’s feet to the fire when it comes to cutting costs and finding cost savings, and they should join the Meaford library board and council to demand better terms. They should be as outraged as everyone else at what the OSNGUPL is charging their municipality in order to allow them use of the facility in Owen Sound.
Instead of paying $120,000 per year, I would suggest that somewhere around $60,000 per year is more in line (unless of course they want to open up the OSNGUPL to ALL Meaford residents, but then again, ALL Meaford residents have full use of the library in Thornbury through a reciprocal agreement – the cost? Zero).
Plain and simple, at $120,000 per year, for roughly 1,400 (as far as we know) Sydenham residents to use the OSNGUPL is… how do I put this politely?… a ripoff.
