The Okanagan Regional Library board is considering pulling Sunday openings over the winter at the Salmon Arm branch.
One way of keeping the local branch open Sundays is for the city to pony up an additional $15,000, ORL CEO Stephanie Hall explained to council during a recent public budget information meeting. Coun. Alan Harrison, however, preferred the library board find more creative ways to keep the branch open over raising taxes another $15,000.
“I can see the value of Sunday openings during the winter for families to use the library,” said Harrison. “Is there any other way to do it without us paying more money, like starting a half-hour later, or some creative solution like that?”
Hall explained the request stems from a June 2013 study that compared service levels to revenue at ORL branches. The results indicated Salmon Arm was getting too much bang for the buck.
“Salmon Arm is getting great value for service, almost $300,000 more service than the revenue recovered, so we have to look at altering service levels, and so Sunday openings is one target that we’ve identified…,” said Hall, noting it would cost the city an additional $18,400 to maintain current service, but staff have said they could run with one less person, so we’re coming forward with a smaller asking amount of $15,000.”
To Harrison’s remarks, Hall said the ORL board is currently working on a staffing level plan. When that’s complete, the board would be in a position to “have conversations with communities about how you want your service to look.”
“We’re certainly willing to be responsive and we certainly want to maintain the most used elements of the service,” said Hall.