Canada: Ottawa’s City Council Approves $47.15 Million 2014 Budget for Public Library
From the Ottawa Public Library:
[On Wednesday morning], City Council approved the Ottawa Public Library (OPL) 2014 operating and capital budget. The complete budget envelope is $47.109 million [$44.53 million/USD], which includes funding for both operating and capital expenses.
The 2014 budget put forward Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) as a key strategic initiative for the Library, with implementation to take place in five branches (Carlingwood, Cumberland, Greely, Greenboro, and Main). At the end of 2014, nearly one-third of all OPL branches will be outfitted with the new technology.
The budget plan also includes a refinement of costs for the roll-out of RFID, such that the implementation at the remaining branches will be completed by the end of 2017.
Included in the budget is funding for the modernization of the Main Library, expansion of Constance Bay branch, and planning for renovations at Rosemount branch. In addition, an increase was included for e-services for customers and to purchase new devices for employee use to improve customer service delivery.
Filed under: Funding, Libraries, News, Public Libraries
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.