New threat to privatize our public library
“We’re going to be outsourcing everything that is not nailed down”
Doug Ford – Feb 6, 2011
Mayor Ford has launched a new attack on our public library to achieve the destructive goal so clearly expressed by his brother last year.
Determined to off-load at least parts of our cherished public library to private interests, the Mayor has opened a new front – this time at the bargaining table — to target librarians and other people who serve you at your neighbourhood branch. The first step is to lower our world class standards of the Toronto Public Library.
Meanwhile, the U.S.-based library management corporation, Library Systems & Services, retained as their lobbyist Doug Christie, a former city politician with close ties to Ford and at least one of his appointees on the Library Board during the City’s recent budget showdown.
Even though we were able to stave off the worst of Mayor Ford’s plans for our public library when the city’s budget was set last month, Council still voted to cut 107 service positions from the ranks of our public library as well as slash the collections budget.
Once these service providers are cut from the system, library staff will be down 17% since amalgamation, even though circulation during the same period increased more than 23%. After 107 full time library service jobs are cut, more than half of librarians and staff will be part-timers without benefits or pensions. And because mostly women work in our public library, they earn far less than comparable work done by men.
In short, there is not much the Mayor and his allies can save by attacking librarians and other staff.
So what is the point of this plan?
Torontonians would not allow the Mayor to close branches, cut hours and programs, or slash the collections budget, so now the Mayor is trying to hollow out our public library from within.
Lowering the quality of public services and increasing public dissatisfaction is a tried and true strategy for privatization. It’s a formula that is well established in the U.S. and is now being imported to Canada.
A company called Library Systems & Services currently manages entire library systems in 13 American cities and many more companies provide “outsourcing solutions” for various library functions.
While LSSI makes many positive claims, their arrival has typically resulted in higher user fees, fewer books and less access to the information and other vital services our public libraries offer for little or no cost as branches are closed, hours of operation limited and staff cut.
Already, certain aspects of Toronto’s public library system have been privatized with negative consequences for library users. Incredibly, a considerable amount of the job of book acquisition has been taken from professional library staff and been outsourced to “jobbers” who try to dump books that do not sell into the TPL. As a result, titles are being purchased that local branches have not asked for and do not want.
How could a private company make a profit running a free service that is funded by taxpayers?
The mandate of the private operator would be to reduce the level of public funding that now supports our libraries. At the same time, they need to make a profit. There is an inevitable conflict here which signals bad news for all library users, from children to seniors. First, local branches of the Toronto Public Library would almost certainly be closed. Library users would see higher user fees, fewer books and less access to the information and other vital services our public libraries offer for little or no cost as hours of operation are limited. The cuts to library staff that have been going on for years will be accelerated.
This is bad news for our city. We would lose a powerful educational and cultural force that opens books and opens minds, taking from Toronto a public service that all other great cities jealously guard.
We can’t let this happen to our cherished public library.
That is why we are getting ready to stand up once more to say no to Mayor Ford and his allies. We will oppose the punitive bargaining demands that will diminish our public library and make it an attractive investment opportunity for private interests.
This is about preserving our public library and everything it means to the city, to culture and learning, and to our democratic values.
Working together during the autumn and early winter tens of thousands of Torontonians showed everyone that a single action can make a huge difference. We stood up in defence of our public library then, and we were successful.
With your help, we can prevail again.
