We’ll have the toolkit live likely the week of the 23rd of April.

Please share the outline of the toolkit and the below draft of the “key questions” that we will be using with your staff and Boards.:

 

OUTLINE

PT 1 – ONTARIO ELECTION 2018:

COMMUNICATING THE VALUE OF LIBRARIES

OLA & FOPL’s ELECTION KEY MESSAGES

IMPORTANT GUIDELINES TO ENSURE SUCCESS

ENGAGING DURING ELECTIONS

APPENDIX A – HOW DOES THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT IMPACT ONTARIO’S LIBRARIES?

APPENDIX C – TEMPLATES

PT 2 – SUPPORTING CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AT YOUR LIBRARY:

HOST AN ALL CANDIDATES FORUM

ENCOURAGE NON-PARTISAN VOTER ENGAGEMENT

ENGAGING STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGES

ENGAGING STUDENTS AT SCHOOL LIBRARIES

 

KEY QUESTIONS

These reflect the issues identified in OLA & FOPL’s Ontario Libraries Election Brief.

  1. Public libraries continue to serve more members of the community and evolve to meet changing needs, but provincial base funding for public libraries has been frozen for over 20 years. This year, public and First Nations libraries received a much-needed increase of $17 million to their annual provincial base funding. This investment is vital for ensuring that our libraries – in rural communities, small towns and cities like – are sustainably funded.

Do you support maintaining this critically important provincial funding for public and First Nations libraries?

  1. Access to online resources is an increasingly important part of the mix of services that public and schools libraries provide. Ensuring that students and the public have equitable access to accurate, comprehensive online resources is more important than ever with the growing presence of misinformation, questionable sources and “fake news”. But these resources are expensive. Ontario is following the lead of other provinces and is creating an Ontario Digital Public Library of high-quality resources, accessible to all public and First Nations libraries in the province.

Will you support the creation of Ontario’s Digital Public Library, and maintaining the critical investment needed to make this a reality?

  1. Qualified teacher-librarians and properly resourced school libraries are a critical part of student success. However, the flexibility of spending decisions by many school boards have diverted money earmarked for teacher librarians and libraries towards other uses. Many school boards in Ontario, including the Ottawa Catholic District School Board, have eliminated teacher-librarians and libraries from their schools altogether. We are already witnessing the negative impact that this is having for preparing students for success in university, college and the skilled trades.

Will you support changing the education funding formula to protect and ensure that all students will have access to teacher librarians and school libraries?