Library Book Rate

WHEREAS the Library Book Rate was established by Canada Post in 1939 as a means of expanding library collections available to remote communities and it is still used today as a means of providing an expansive array of inter-library loans cost-effectively to both rural and urban communities alike; AND WHEREAS Canada Post has recently advised that consideration is being given to treating libraries like businesses and eliminating the postage rate subsidy for library resources mailed through inter-library loans: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Canada Post be requested to reflect on the fact that it adopted literacy as a corporate cause over ten years ago, and to consider, as a literacy advocate, the setback that an exorbitant increase to the cost of moving library materials between libraries will be to that cause.