Mr. Hagenaars made an unexpected proposal for the city’s libraries. He proposed replacing the existing OPL staff with 33 librarians (one at each branch) and a staff of volunteers:

In my opinion, what we truly need are small, local libraries, with one librarian [...] and volunteer staff from the community to keep them going. Let people vote with their feet if they want library services. If there are no volunteers [...], one full-time librarian is already too much.

His proposal didn’t explain who would maintain the OPL’s physical assets (lending materials, buildings, computer networks, website, bookmobile, and archives), nor did it explain the effect of cutting over 8,000 classes that have an annual enrollment of roughly 190,000. Perhaps worst of all, he proposes cuts without an indication of the savings they would provide.

This suggests that Mr. Hagenaars either:

1. knows about these services and didn’t bother to mention them in his proposal; or
   
2. made a policy proposal without understanding the issue.

My concern is that Mr. Hagenaars didn’t know what he was suggesting. My fear is supported by a question in his original letter “Where are the volunteers at the libraries, if people think they are that important?” Obvious answers aside: Ottawa has 555 library volunteers. It’s worrisome when a blogger with a couple of hours on his hands digs up more information about an election issue than a candidate.

Proposing a solution is easy. Proposing a useful solution is much harder.

In his response to my original post, Mr. Hagenaars seems more focused on the proposal for a new Main Branch rather than laying off 419.46 employees¹. This is good – Mr. Hagenaars doesn’t reiterate his call for a dismantling of the existing OPL and its programs.²

I hope that his original suggestion was nothing more than an overzealous cost-cutting proposal. If that’s the case, I would much rather that he said that, rather than continuing to avoid its mention.

Update: Cleaned up wording.

1. I can only assume that the .46 of an employee refers to .46 of a full time position, rather Eric the Half a Librarian.
2. Ironically, I agree that delaying the construction of a new Main Branch is a reasonable way to save money, given that the existing Main Branch is still functional.

what we truly need are small, local libraries, with one librarian (making less than six figures) and volunteer staff from the community to keep them going. Let people vote with their feet if they want library services. If there are no volunteers (i.e. not enough interest), one full-time librarian is already too much.

I disagree.

I’m not sure if Mr. Hagenaars has had the opportunity to visit a branch of the OPL recently, but they offer much more than book lending: language instruction, room rentals, internet access, children’s programs, computer classes, and classes for recent immigrants (with titles like “How to Get an Ontario Driver’s Licence”). Libraries are community hubs, just like sports arenas and community centres. The OPL’s classes, programs, and resources help people get engaged with their city.

On top of that, our libraries get a lot of use. According to Elizabeth from Library Reference, the OPL’s usage for 2009 was:

The provincial government provides statistics from 2007: 4,286,900 visitors; 10,083,595 items lent; 8,485 programs; and 195,569 program enrollees.

It’s hard to see Mr. Hagenaars’ 31 paid staff keeping up with that load. I have an even harder time imagining people volunteering to push mops, book room rentals, fix water leaks, wire up computer networks, teach French/English/Mandarin/Arabic, or amuse a room full of other people’s screaming wonderful children. Perhaps Bay Ward has a more civicly minded population than Centretown.

Our libraries do a pretty good job. I’m sure there are improvements to be found, but arbitrary pronouncements like “one librarian and volunteer staff from the community” don’t help. If Mr. Hagenaars does get elected, I hope he takes some time to understand our city before he tries to fix it.

Image Credit: GJ Hagenaars website and the Bytowne Museum