WHEREAS the provincial government provided a one time grant in 2006 to implement the BC OneCard and Every Student a Card programs to promote province-wide literacy objectives; AND WHEREAS such grants create an ongoing expectation that the new services will be provided by local governments in future years, including the extension of these services to out of service areas such as Anmore and Belcarra, municipalities that do not have a public library and are served by Port Moody: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Union of BC Municipalities formally request that the annual operating grant provided to all British Columbia public libraries by the Province be increased to reflect the addition of all new provincial programs and that the annual operating grant provided to public libraries be adjusted incrementally each year to reflect inflation.
Ministry of Education In 2006, the Province of British Columbia implemented the BC OneCard and Every Student a Card programs to promote province-wide literacy objectives. This initiative is now receiving ongoing sustainable funding. The government provided 12 million of added funding over three years for public libraries, to bring broadband Internet into every branch, to create AskAway and set up the one-card system to give every British Columbian access to books from any library in the province. Public library programs like the BC One Card, AskAway, library federations, provincially licensed databases, Library-to-Go downloadable books, Equity Technology Grants, Resource Sharing and Every School Child a Card initiatives are aimed at increasing access to information for all British Columbians. The Ministry of Education has provided funding in each of the past two years 2M in 200607; 2M in 200708 to support the implementation of One Card. The Ministry budget now includes sustainable funding for One Card on an ongoing basis 2M annually and significant ongoing funding for the other new provincial programs that resulted from the Libraries Without Walls strategic plan for public libraries in British Columbia. The provincial annual operating grants for public libraries are per capita based and take into account fluctuations in population from year to year.