Non-Members of FOPL will receive this letter this week.  We welcome you as members!

Dec. 14, 2016

Dear Potential FOPL Member:

This letter is to ask for your support and membership as an investment in the collective success of public libraries in Ontario.  We need you as members and participants in FOPL!

NOW, more than ever before, is the time to support collaborative efforts in the Ontario public library community.  Why?  As you’re likely aware, the Ontario government is conducting a thorough provincial public library funding review.  This is likely to last at least 24 months and your voice must be at the table.  As a former OLA president once said, “If you’re not at the table, then you’re the dessert.”  This review encompasses the PLOG (provincial library operating grant), pay equity support, connectivity and technology funding, research and innovation funding, the funding for our agencies OLA, SOLS and OLS-North and more!  We all derive great benefit from this funding both individually and collectively and so do our communities!

I have served you as the Executive Director of FOPL for over three years supporting our board’s leadership on issues important to you.  During this period we have invested our members’ fees in building support for just such a review.  We have our library statistics in order; we have a large collection of modern public library impact studies; we have supported several qualitative studies through the Ontario Library Capacity Fund; we have an up-to-date public library attitudes and opinion poll; we have an emerging marketing campaign and tagline; we’ve built strong collaborative relationships between FOPL and OLA, SOLS, OLS-North, and CULC; we’ve submitted a number of briefs to Cabinet and the Premier on the Ontario Budget, Culture Strategy, Community Hubs, Municipal Review, and more; FOPL has invested in Library Board training and advocacy training; so, we’re more ready than we have ever been!

FOPL is focused on communicating the difference we make as librarians, library workers, leaders, and trustees for our communities and province and educating about the need for appropriate funding and support for public libraries to influence key decision makers.

In 2017 you can expect to see many more strategic initiatives on your behalf and an increase in assertive communications to position libraries well in a non-partisan way and educate about our vital role in Ontario’s social, cultural and economic fabric.

We will strive to speak with one voice and with power.  Public Libraries are too important to our communities to do otherwise.  We need you as members.  We need your support.  We need your trust and confidence that we can make a difference to enhance the success of our institutions and the province’s residents and communities that we care so deeply about.

Please join as a collaborative investment in research and lobbying for our cultural sector’s interests and those of your board and public library communities in Ontario.  We know that we’re delivering value for money and making a difference.  We need your voice on side!  We know that the more libraries we represent, the stronger our important voice will be with the key audiences who influence our success, funding, and role in society.

It’s easy to join – just send me an e-mail or contact me (information below).  If I can be helpful in any way, please don’t hesitate to call.

Sincerely,

Stephen

Stephen Abram, MLS

Executive Director, Federation of Ontario Public Libraries

sabram@fopl.ca

stephen.abram@gmail.com

Cel: 416-669-4855

FOPL: 416-395-0746

The Federation of Ontario Public Libraries is a non-profit with a mandate to benefit Ontario public libraries through advocacy, research, and marketing.

La Fédération des bibliothèques publiques de l’Ontario est un organisme à but non-lucratif. Elle a comme mandat, de répondre aux besoins de toutes les bibliothèques, en concentrant leurs efforts dans la recherche, en marketing et en agissant comme plaidoyeur.