The Creston Valley Public Library has launched a fundraising campaign aimed at reopening the facility on Fridays after more than a year of closures due to a budget shortfall.
The “Fund a Friday” campaign, led by the library’s board of trustees with support from the Friends of the Library, seeks to raise $100,000 to cover the roughly $2,000 daily cost of full operations and restore Friday service for one year.
“We heard from a lot of patrons that they really missed having the library open on Fridays,” said library board chair Kathy Durnin.
“So we thought we would make this effort to try and do a fundraising campaign that we’re running all year.”
Durnin said the library cut Friday hours last March due to financial pressures largely tied to stagnant provincial funding.
“The province has frozen its funding at the main core level, that was around 2009,” Durnin said.
“They did give a little bit of extra funding for COVID relief, but now it’s dropping again back to that core level. And it’s just not keeping up.”
In B.C., public library funding is shared between local governments and the province, with municipalities and regional districts typically covering the majority of costs.
In this case, Durnin said both the Regional District of Central Kootenay and the Town of Creston have increased support over time, but the current model is becoming unsustainable.
“The costs have continued to increase; salaries continue to increase. So the provincial funding is now only making up a small share of the funding. And the regional district has had to pick up so much of it. It’s just, it’s not tenable.”
She said operating costs are driven largely by staffing and programming, including services for children, seniors and other community members.
“That is for full programming,” Durnin said of the $2,000 daily estimate.
“We have a children’s programmer, an adult programmer and an IT person who does a lot of not only building computers, but also individual sessions with people who need help with IT,” Durnin added, noting all library staff are paid a living wage, contributing to higher operating costs.
The loss of the library on Fridays has been felt across the community, particularly among students, families and seniors who rely on the space for internet access, programming and basic services.
Durnin described libraries, especially in rural and remote areas, as essential community hubs.
“These problems are affecting libraries all over BC and I think particularly in rural areas where libraries really are a lifeline for many people.”
The “Fund a Friday” campaign includes several initiatives throughout the year, such as quilt draws, community events and a gourmet dinner, along with online and in-person donation options.
An anonymous donor has agreed to match the first 10 contributions of $2,000.
The effort is intended as a temporary solution while advocacy continues with the province to increase funding.
“We’re only planning to run it for one year. We hope that in the meantime, our advocacy can get us closer to where we need to be reopening using our official funding. So it won’t be forever.”
However, uncertainty remains about whether that funding will materialize.
“There was a big advocacy push last year,and it seemed as though the provincial government was hearing the messages, but for whatever reason, they simply couldn’t act on the advocacy that was being done,” said Durnin.
“So I can’t say that I see light at the end of the tunnel on that side of things, but we’re going to talk to our MLA and see what we can do.”
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