Book-vending kiosks, pick-up lockers may replace Korah library

After deciding without public deliberations to close its Korah branch, Sault Ste. Marie Public Library Board is weighing options for maintaining some kind of library service there.

The library board voted this week to direct Matthew MacDonald, acting chief executive officer and director of public libraries, to prepare a detailed, costed list of service alternatives ranging from pop-up librairies to unattended self-checkout book shelves that would essentially constitute an open invitation to thieves.

MacDonald's list is expected to be ready for the board's April meeting.

Until then, a hold has been placed on any new purchases for the controversial, 51-year-old library branch.

But the Goulais Avenue location at Northern Community Centre remains what MacDonald describes as "a fully operational branch library with services that include material lending, public access to computers, printers, photocopiers and Internet, readers' advisory, reference services, public meeting space, and programming for all ages."

"While reducing operating hours at the Korah Branch would significantly reduce its operating cost. there would remain many costs that the library budget would not be able to support," MacDonald wrote in a report presented to his board on Monday.

"These costs include remaining staffing, collections, technology and licenses. In addition, the library portion of the shared spaces with the Seniors' Centre is open and people must walk through part of it to access the Seniors' Centre portions. At present, the Korah Branch cannot be closed off while the Seniors' Centre is open."

The following, in MacDonald's words, are some of the options he's investigating:

Unstaffed options

• NovelBranch - similar to a vending machine, patrons can scan their library cards and remove and return books from the NovelBranch. Check-outs and returns will be monitored by the ILS [Integrated Library System] through RFID [radio-frequency idenitification]. The NovelBranch will be limited to approximately 125 books per unit. The NovelBranches require minimal maintenance
• holds lockers and book deposits - patrons will be able to request books online or at one of the other library locations and have them placed in a locker system for pick-up. Returns can be placed in the book deposit. This will require regular attendance by library couriers
• self-serve - the library could provide open shelves in the Seniors' Centre with a self-checkout unit. This option is based on an honour system and woud leave the material vulnerable to theft. Minimal staffing, perhaps from another library location, would be required for the re-shelving and organizing of materials. Self-serve computer stations could also be made available

Outreach

• regularly scheduled programs - the library could continue to book rooms within the Seniors' Centre to offer programs such as book clubs, technology workshops, teen programs and early literacy programs
• irregularly scheduled programs - the library could offer programming at the Northern Community Centre on an irregular basis. These would be one-time program offerings such as workshops
• pop-up library - the library could offer programs and possibly limited material lending within the Northern Community Centre on special occasions or on a set schedule (for example, on the last Tuesday of the month)
• mobile library service - similar to the old-style bookmobile service, the library could purchase a vehicle to transport materials and technology to various locations. The vehicle would be a Wi-Fi hotspot. Services and the number of materials that it could provide would be limited to the size of the vehicle. Very large vehicles may be able to provide a space for limited library programming

The Korah branch library unexpectedly found itself on the chopping block during this year's City Council budget deliberations.

Ward 3 Coun. Matthew Shoemaker persuaded council that the entire annual cost of operating Korah branch should be cut from Sault Ste. Marie Public Library's request for a $341,871 budget increase.

"I would rather see two amazing library branches in our city than an underfunded three-branch operation," Shoemaker told SooToday.

The library board responded quickly and decisively, without benefit of public discussion or input.

Six days after City Council's decision, the library board held an unannounced secret meeting to discuss the future of Korah branch's future.

Four days after that, board members passed the following resolution by an electronic vote:

Whereas City Council has specifically targeted in its budget deliberation the entire operating budget of the Korah branch library, be it resolved that the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library board seeks council's approval to close the Korah branch library.

The city pays a large portion of the library's budget and has ultimate say over matters related to library lands or leases.

City Clerk Malcolm White expressed concern about both the secret meeting and the electronic vote, cautioning the library board to comply with its procedural bylaw and provincial open-meeting laws.

Mayor Provenzano then weighed in with a letter to Matthew MacDonald and Elspeth Belair, library board chair.

"To be clear," the mayor wrote, "the motion and subsequent funding allocation was not a direction to close the Northern Community Centre branch.

"While I accept and acknowledge that the City Council decision may affect the library board’s ability to operate at that location, the budget decision should not be taken as a direction not to operate at that location. To the contrary, the city advised in 2016 that it wanted the library board to maintain a presence at the Northern Community Centre and that sentiment remains."

"If the library board can manage, within the budget allocated to it for 2019, to maintain a presence at the Northern Community Centre, it is certainly welcome to do so and the city would be glad to continue the partnership," Provenzano wrote.

At Monday's library board meeting, MacDonald was directed to try to develop still more alternatives for delivering library services at the Northern Community Centre site.

"They basically gave me license to be creative," he tells SooToday.

MacDonald advised board members that they may need to discuss halting library service at the Korah branch, "though perhaps only for a limited time."

In other news, library board members voted this week to delay work on Sault Ste. Marie Public Library's strategic plan, given the magnitude of projects planned during the first half of 2019.

Monday's library board meeting took place at exactly the same hour as this week's City Council meeting.

Ward 2 Coun. Luke Dufour, who's also a library board member, introduced a resolution recommending that such scheduling conflicts be avoided in the future.

Dufour's resolution was rejected because members thought it should be debated first by the board's policy committee.