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It's good public policy to eliminate library fees. This increases utilization of the library and makes life a little easier for seniors and mothers of young children, who tend to be heavier users. Libraries also help people find jobs. They enable immigrants to adjust to Canada and become part of the workforce. And libraries enrich the lives of the very poor and whose with disabilities who can't work. The people who tend to be most dismissive of funding libraries are often working-age males who are on the Internet all day and who can afford streaming services and their own personal computers. I hope people in this category can see the world through the others' eyes and support our local libraries. They are a treasure.

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Yes, exactly this! I fully agree on all your points. PGPL's historic income from late fees isn't minuscule, but it's also not the $140k that Sampson wants to deny.

2017: $55,283

2018: $54,280 (both 2017 and 18 from pdf page 23 here: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/residents/sports-and-recreation/arts-culture/public-libraries/public-library-sofi-files/sofi-prince-george-public-library.pdf)

2019: $53,255

2020: $15,116 due to the fine pause (both 2019 and 20 from pdf page 24 here: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/residents/sports-and-recreation/arts-culture/public-libraries/public-library-sofi-files/sofi-2020/sofi-prince-george-public-library.pdf)

For 2017-19, the late charges represent about half of the internal revenue. I'd love to see other stats for these years, particularly how the elimination of fees has impacted the number of visitors and the number of checkouts. Late fees hit low income users the hardest, leading to them avoiding the library and all the other services they offer, and it's another source of guilt and stress in their lives.

And looking at only the dollar amounts skips over the issue that libraries are a public service, and should be fully funded by provincial and municipal governments for the benefit of all BC citizens (and folks visiting BC - I've popped into public libraries elsewhere when I need wifi and a quiet place that won't charge me $18 for a latte and the privilege of sitting at a table for half an hour). It would be great if the provincial funding was drastically increased.

And for real, they have no qualms funding cops in schools, but want to target folks going to the library?!!

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Have we ever asked the police to see where they can improve internal revenues? Never. Why do the police get to be a service that is unquestionably funded by the public, but the library is, in Mr. Sampson's words, a non-profit that expects the city to pay for their shortfall. I have never once been helped by the police (I called them once when I was working alone in a gas station as a 20 year old and was being threatened by a belligerent customer and they didn't show up), but I use the library at least once a week, more if you include their web services.

As a parent (sorry to pull that card) I don't want cops in my kids' school. I do want reference services and programming available on Sundays. Also, I listened to Sampson's questions to Mr. Burry and it's very interesting that Sampson seems to think the library did not get city approval for the removal of overdue fees. Burry pushed back on this and argued that the library presented a budget with these changes and outlined possible increase asks down the road. I'd be interested to find out if Sampson misremembered here to push an agenda.

Thank you as always Mandi for your comments and ability to quickly find relevant information that supports your argument! Thank you for bringing this point up in your newsletter, Andrew!

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Every interaction I've ever had with the police, they've made things WORSE, not better. They have revenue in the form of items and cash that they 'liberate' from 'criminals' - how's about they use that to fund their harassment of unhoused people and school children instead of asking the city for an extra 7 figures. AARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHH

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