Poll Finds Large Majority of Canadians Want Their Public Libraries Publicly Funded

From cnews/Canoe.ca:

Politicians across Canada may want to close the book on pulling public funding for libraries.

A new Leger marketing survey released exclusively to QMI Agency found an overwhelming majority of Canadians want their libraries kept publicly funded.

While libraries ranked at the top of services Canadians want publicly funded, zoos ranked at the bottom, with those surveyed split about whether they should get public or private funding.

The survey, conducted online from July 25 to July 27, asked 1,570 Canadians 18 years of age or older to indicate whether they believe the public or private sector is best suited to operate certain municipal services.

Of those surveyed, 84% felt the public sector was their choice to run libraries while 10% thought the private sector would be the better option. Around 7% refused to answer.

Leger executive vice-president Dave Scholz said when it comes to libraries it is clear that Canadians from coast to coast want their municipal governments to pay for them.

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Support for public libraries was highest in Ontario at about 85% but remained strong across the country. The lowest amount of support was in Alberta where about 79% of those surveyed still supported publicly funded libraries.

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Filed under: Funding, Libraries, Public Libraries