It will remain business as usual at libraries in the Stratford area.
Officials with the Perth County Information Network, which connects public library users and library materials county-wide, say they will continue to operate in spite of cuts to the Ontario Library Service budget.
The Southern Ontario Library Service announced on April 18th that it would cease operation of the provincial InterLibrary Loan Delivery service with library officials saying that the announcement comes in the wake of a 50 percent funding cut to the agency in the recently announced Ontario budget.
The ILLO service allows library customers to request and borrow items from other libraries and it has been suspended as library officials try to determine how the physical movement of items might be done in the future.
Officials say the service also functioned as the backbone of the Perth County Information Network’s resource-sharing mandate with over 72 thousand items shared between libraries in Perth County using the service last year.
Perth County libraries say they are committed to continuing to share resources among its member libraries and are dedicated to finding a solution to replace the previously provincially-funded delivery service.
Tourism, Culture, and Sport Minister Michael Tibollo defended the cuts recently, saying they are part of the government’s efforts to deal with an $11.7 billion deficit.
