FOPL News

Please welcome Sarah Douglas-Murray, FOPL’s new Large Urban Caucus Trustee! Sarah currently serves as the CEO and Chief Librarian of Milton Public Library, where she leads one of Canada’s fastest-growing and most innovative library systems. With over 25 years of municipal leadership experience, she brings deep expertise in strategic planning, facility development, programming, and public…

Hope you’re all keeping warm during this cold snap! We’ve been busy over at FOPL and I have a few updates to share. This week we submitted our Pre-Budget Submission for the 2025-26 budget cycle to the Ministry of Finance (here). The document highlights the need for increased funding and support for public libraries through…

The biggest news of course is the latest cabinet shuffle resulted in major changes for the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and (now) Gaming. Early last month the province announced that the Hon. Stan Cho would become the new Minister for Tourism and Culture, retaining his OLG responsibilities from his previous ministry. The sport portfolio was…

Please join us in welcoming Sarah Vaisler as our new Large Urban Caucus CEO Representative! Sarah joined the Ajax Public Library team in March 2020, as the Chief Librarian and Executive Officer. Prior to her position with Ajax, Sarah served as the Deputy Director at Clarington Public Library. With 18 years of experience, Sarah brings…

The Annual General Meeting for the Federation of Ontario Public Libraries will take place virtually via Zoom on Friday, APRIL 26, at 10:00am. Registration will begin at 9:30am so please be sure to log in prior to 10am so that you can be marked in attendance. The draft agenda and all supporting documents can be…

Library CEOs and representatives have been making deputations to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs since December 12, 2023.  Deputations are still ongoing, and the committee seems invested in hearing how the Ontario Digital Public Library and enhanced provincial funding will impact local public libraries and their communities. Thank you to everyone who…

Please join us in welcoming Jodie Player Delgado as our new Small/Medium Caucus Representative. Jodie is the CEO of Springwater Township Public Library. She has worked as a Teacher-Librarian and Children’s Librarian in the Florida Keys and is happy to be back in her hometown of Elmvale, although she is not a huge fan of…

FOPL and OLA met with Minister Lumsden (Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport) immediately following the Ontario Public Library Week celebrations in Hamilton, ON. Margie Singleton, CEO of Vaughan Public Libraries and FOPL Interim Vice-Chair,  and I sat down with Minister Lumsden together with our OLA partners and Hamilton CEO Paul Takala to talk in…

FOPL and OLA have created a new government relations priorities document to guide our advocacy work throughout the fall and winter. While this document may look familiar, there are two main changes to note; Our ask regarding the Provincial Libraries Operating Grant has changed. We are now asking for an increase to the PLOG of…

FOPL attended the Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario (AMCTO) Conference earlier this summer and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) Conferences just last week to continue our campaign to reach out and spread awareness among our municipal partners. We spoke to hundreds of delegates at each, highlighting the importance of…

Please join me in welcoming Susan McGibbon to our Board of Directors as Rural Caucus Trustee. Susan joins us from the Georgian Bay Public Library Board. Here is a short bio from Susan: I joined the Board of the Township of Georgian Bay Public Library (GBPL) as a member in 2019. I took over as as…

We are pleased to welcome Anne Smith to the FOPL Board of Directors. Anne is the new Small Medium Caucus Trustee and joins us from the Innisfil IdeaLAB and Public Library board. Anne Smith is a retired Financial Services Industry executive (was based in Toronto). She moved to Innisfil 10 years ago and quite quickly…