Southern Ontario Library Service

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Bruce County Board, County Council & Library CEO met with Minister of Culture, the Hon. Madeleine Meilleur in February, making the case for better provincial funding of public libraries; Minister commended the Board for its passion in support of library service in Ontario; Minister spoke of its pending review of their support of public library service.
Laurentian Valley (contracting with Pembroke) municipal council and Whitewater Library Board adopted a resolution to advocate for provincial funding and library support as well and sent copies to Minister – rest of TC#7 members wanted copy of Waterloo resolution.
Whitewater setting up a meeting with local MPP Cheryl Gallant to discuss public library funding.
Lincoln PL has formed an Advocacy Committee which has been making presentations to Community organizations and the Town Council.
Chatham-Kent has a Marketing and Advocacy committee.

Kawartha Lakes is into its 6^th year after amalgamation with 18 branches – looking at service delivery and the need to close down some branches, but this will likely not happen until after the November elections.  A useful tool has been the MPMP to monitor library uses and compare across the system.  Cost per visit ranged from $2.08 to $19.00.  Between 2001 and 2005: 69% increase in programs, 60% increase in computer use, 30% increase in requests of staff.
Marmora – Amalgamation jointed Village of Marmora library and Village of Deloro library.  At one point, considered closing Deloro, but decided that it did serve its community & agreed to fix up the building and now some increased use (and was good for Literacy Grant).  Now considering a service contract with neighbouring municipality to serve the north end of the rather large township.  

Fort Erie PL won an award at OLA for its After School Program.
Oakville PL is the #1 service in the community, with a 92% satisfaction rate.
Oakville received an award for its Youth Services. The library has set-up a Teen writing a contest and Teen areas in the library all with local teen involvement.
Caledon board won a community service award from the town.

Augusta Twp has 9 or 10 sitting on the Board for a population of 7,000.  Very diversified Board with a lot of its board members very knowledgeable in technology so this helps to save a lot of money when computer problems occur.
Merrickville – Talk about extending the library board term to 4 year to take into account the proposed legislation of extending municipal council member’s term to four years.
Oxford County is planning to do a governance review.
TC 4 discussed the issue of board assessment and using the annual plan and strategic plan as the basis for assessment.

Augusta Twp – Budget stable – Municipality has increase the budget by $1,000 to cover the increase in fuel costs.
Brockville – Budget is fine and councillors and Board members are very happy.
Bruce County’s budget was accepted, including a $30,000 increase in book budget and $17,000 to make van driver full-time.
Grand Valley received a budget increase, including a new reserve fund for facility maintenance; also added 2 hours/week.
Uxbridge closed Mondays due to funding cuts, this year the budget was well received and they are going to open on Mondays again.
Niagara Falls PL took a $50,000 cut in their budget and they are for replacement computers worth $250,000.
Norfolk County has no reserves and is being asked to come in under 4% increase – this leaves them with a $60,000 shortfall.
St. Catharines built reserves from the OMERS holiday for the library. The reserves have been used to fund major library projects including the upgrade to the ILS system.
Woodstock had their budget approved with no reductions.
Lambton County’s budget passed unscathed.

Brockville – 150^th anniversary.
Cavan Millbrook celebrated its 110^th anniversary last year with no budget because they did not qualify for a raffle licence.
Merrickville – 175^th anniversary of the municipality and of  the Rideau Canal in 2007.
Owen Sound & North Grey Union PL celebrated 150^th anniversary in the fall; very successful; a spin-off was fundraising drive for new furniture.
North Perth – Listowel is celebrating 100^th anniversary next year; Dan Needles booked for anniversary event.
Waterloo PL – many projects underway to celebrate Waterloo’s 150^th anniversary, including children’s services staff working with local children on a quilt (see grants for other projects).
Milton to celebrate its 150 anniversary in October.
Bracebridge – will celebrate its centennial in 2008.

Shelburne – circulation and overall library use have risen dramatically since opening of new facility.
Whitby’s circulation has increased 62% in the new central library, but experienced a dramatic drop in circulation in the branch where hours were cut.
Grimsby has seen a drop in the traditional usage of the library. They are grappling with the how to measure new uses of library: foot traffic and Internet usage.
Halton Hills’ circulation has grown 12% each year for the last 2 years.
Quinte West – since opening new facility in the municipal offices complex, the library has seen dramatic increases in use (higher visibility, more space) and in particular, great increases in participation in children’s programs.

Grimsby is looking forward to what ODL will provide.
Caledon has updated its collections overall especially its paperbacks.
Prince Edward – local archives have come to the library and want the library to take over their collection – still in negotiation phase.
Lambton County has developed, and will continue to develop, the graphic novel genre for both children and adults. This includes Manga. At the same time, the County is dealing with an influx of Arabic and Russian speakers, and is looking to develop collections, as well as make good use of SOMP.
Merrickville – Joined the Chamber of Commerce for only $50.00/year. Cornwall says it is a good idea because it creates good PR with some of the members and it is then much easier when time comes to talk to these people for fundraising rather then coming cold turkey. Brockville says their board has several of its members sitting on other boards (Chamber of Commerce, etc.) and this is quite advantageous. Penetanguishene completed a reference collection evaluation and reorganization with assistance from SOLS.

Augusta Twp. – The library has been selected as the official site of new command centre in case of an emergency. The members of the emergency group also have their meetings at the library. As a command centre, in case of an emergency they would absolutely need a generator for heat, so the library is assured to be heated properly and they would also need a secure connectivity line, so the library will have that too. So, it is sort of a win/win situation.
East Gwillmbury has many community partners to help run the golf tournament, the local horticultural society assists with the literacy garden, and the film society runs a screening series.
Pickering has a community linkages committee.
Waterloo PL – once again participating in One Book, One Community with the other libraries in Waterloo region (5^th year); the book they will read this year is Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road.
Waterloo PL – participated on the project team for Waterloo’s “Intelligent Communities” submission (international award); Waterloo currently the only Canadian city still in the running, and top 7 in the world.
Fort Erie has 2 community partners that helps provide financial support for its After School Program: Meridian and the Royal Bank. This library is also involved in a community effort to combat vandalism. A committee has been formed that includes the police, library CEO and school principals.

Guelph – working with Guelph Accessibility Committee to retrofit the library facilities, making them totally accessible.
Uxbridge re-modeled the library according to community needs.
Killaloe and Bonnechère are planning expansions.
Woodstock has funding to repaint the Carnegie portion of their building, and to do external repairs.

Addington Highlands – after being open for 40 years, the library building now has indoor plumbing, thanks to a grant from the Trillium Foundation.
Belleville – new library is being built across the road from the present library and will be called Belleville Public Library and Art Gallery.  The library closed for 2 weeks to move and reopened on May 15^th.  Photos are posted on the library website at www.bellevillelibrary.com
Bonnechere – plans to expand the library.
Bracebridge – identified expansion of the library in the new strategic plan.
Brant has built a new branch in Scotland. The Board was going to close this branch, but the community complained, and the council came up with the required funds. The circulation has increased by 70%, and it is now a community focal point. The Board is also working to provide the community of Burford with new space – looking for funds to complete an engineering study.
Bruce County – A ground breaking ceremony will be held this summer for a new library in Chesley.
Burlington completed the renovation of its central library. It is also grappling with how to meet library demand in new areas, i.e. expand existing branches or build new ones. The community is expected to top out at 180,000.
Caledon opened new branch with community centre.
Guelph – Board and CEO busy making the case and raising awareness of the need for a new central library; CEO has talked to every service club, in the process of making 2^nd visits (the Library hired a public relations firm to help them craft their message); working hard to make the library an election issue; the committee charged with site selection is made up of 2 board members, 2 councillors, and 3 professionals in the community.
Guelph – a new south end branch is being built – 10,000 sq.ft. with the option to double the space in the future.
Halton Hills is looking at a new branch for Georgetown but local businesses do not want library to move.
Huron County – a new branch between Wroxeter and Gorrie (Howick Township) is being constructed as part of the arena complex.
Killaloe Plans to move the library into large quarters in Municipal offices with better accessibility.
Kingston-Frontenac – have 2 major capital projects, including Calvin Park branch which is old, has a bad roof, is totally inaccessible.
Lincoln is looking for a new building for Beamsville. It is proving to be a long process but studies have been done re: population growth and greenbelt legislation. The library is hoping for a joint facility.
Merrickville – New building on the way – studying wheelchair accessibility, square footage and collection size.
Middlesex County broke ground for an addition to the Strathroy Branch in order to house HQ.
Milton completed its renovation which included the purchase of a church next door which now houses the library’s administration offices. They are now investigating the possibility of a new branch in south Milton.
Mississauga is scheduled to open its 17^th branch in the Summer 2007 in Churchill Meadows. It will be the 3^rd joint facility.
Newmarket is developing a proposal for a new library facility.
New Tecumseth is planning a new branch in Totenham.
Niagara Falls new branch opened in a facility shared with YMCA, community Centre, Parks & Rec and Seniors Group. Over 500 new card members were registered in first month alone.
North Grenville – Getting ready to build a new building. Timing is excellent. This would mean the closure of 3 branches (Oxford, Kemptville (Carnegie building) & South Gower, possibly a fourth Burritt’s Rapids. RFP done for free from a member of the Board. Received ten answers, narrowed them to three then to one. Must now decide whether it is a go or no go with this company.
Location options - a few. First, could get land from the municipality but there are hazard zones on that lot;  Could knock down a building that has not been bought by the municipality and keep the old Court building (2 storey building) No definite completion date. Rob Lavery from SOLS came to do a workshop on capital campaign. The Board will hire a consultant to get things moving. Will be funding it, do not intend asking the municipality for money right now, would rather try to raise the money ourselves. Three municipal councilors are all ready on board because the new library could be build right in town and that would also mean keeping the old Court building alive.
Oakville is closing its Glen Abbey branch for renovations.  There are also plans to move the main branch further north.
Oshawa opened its new multi—purpose facility in the spring and is in the process of a needs assessment for another new complex.
Perth & District Union – Thinking of building a new library or expanding to two floors (not the perfect solution) Needs assessment survey done – got input from community leaders through focus groups meetings – now up to location analysis – flooding could be an issue with one  of the location --  thinking of maybe buying the municipal lot beside the library.
Richmond Hill – has built a public library attached to a high school, and expect other projects in cooperation with the school Board.  The public library staff manage the facility.
Shelburne – TC #3 toured the new Shelburne PL facility, which is proving very functional and popular; Chamberlain architects did an excellent job combining the new with the original; meeting space is providing the library with a new source of revenue.
Springwater – considering building a new facility in Minising to replace the existing branch.
Whitby is planning a new branch for 2007, moved up from 2010.

Augusta Twp - Friends of the Library – members are very busy so do not want to sit on regular monthly library board meetings but are always there to lend a helping hand for any special occasions (celebrations) or should the library need them for a special activity.
Cornwall – Friends group of the library bought a Large Print machine but it was used only once since it was bought. Since it did cost a lot of money, would like to offer it to another library that may need it more.
Guelph – Friends group in its second year; 300+ members; they’ve taken over the running of the library book sale.
Bonnechère – new Friends group.
Belleville – new library facility includes a coffee shop and a gift and used book store run by the Friends of the Library.
Brighton – new Friends group has formed- 40 members – 1^st project will be running the Visiting Library Service (nursing homes & shut-ins).
Tweed – Friends group has only about 10 members – but did host a evening with Kevin Callan with 70 people & do sell books at market every Saturday in the summer – so still managing.

Bonnechere - Rotary Club fundraising for new shelving and books. Spring local artists’ event proceeds for the library.
Bracebridge – advertised in local paper for volunteers to raise funds for the library’s building project but the response was low.
Brockville – Successful in raising $100,000 + a generous gentleman with no children died and left the library $50,000.
Cornwall – Major plant closure’s (Domtar) caused some worry because it had promised to give $5,000 /year to the library for children’s programming. Thankfully, a person from Scotia Bank stepped in to help by offering to take Domtar’s place in assuring that funding.
Gravenhurst – The library held an antigue appraisal and bridge luncheon.
Halton Hills Friends raised $12,000 mostly through book sales.
Head Clara Maria held their Annual May Madness event of plants and book sale and other booths – some proceeds to the library.
Huntsville – municipal council will provide funding in each year for long term, capital projects.
North Perth now has access to an Endowment Fund through Stratford’s Community Foundation.
L.E. Shore – has initiated an “Adopt-a-Book” program, where patrons purchase a bookplate for a new library book to recognize special occasions; annual Dinner Dance expected to raise $8-10,000.
Lincoln is pursuing Planned Giving with the help of Rob Lavery from SOLS. They will be targeting lawyers re: bequests.
Oakville’s Friends of the Library raised $30,000 for “book nooks” and cut out machine for kids.
Orillia has completed a fundraising feasibility study as part of the planning for a new facility.
Penetanguishene – jewellery sale.
Shelburne – in their recent capital campaign it was the corporate donations that made a significant difference.
Springwater – assistance with completing taxes was available at the library and participants made a donation to the library.
Welland’s donor wall has been very successful.

Ajax and Pickering hold joint board meetings twice a year – both are Policy Governance boards and find it useful to observe another board’s practice.
Renfrew Board is endeavoring to change the slant of its discussion to concentrate on strategic planning issues.
W.B. Lewis (Deep River) Bd tackling a major policy review.
Deseronto  have had a non-voting high school student sitting as an advisor on library board & this has been very rewarding for both.

Athens Twp – Starbucks – ABC grant for children’s programming was refused. Will try CAP as source of funding should CAP be extended for another year.
Augusta Twp – Applied to the Brockville Foundation for a grant last year and did receive it. Taking into account the grant received this year from the Ministry of Culture for literacy, will not apply for the coming year to the Brockville Foundation to give a chance to other libraries who may need this money more than Augusta Township May apply again in the future.
Bonnechère applied for Trillium grant for $75,000 to expand library.
Bruce County pleased to receive $199,500 from Ministry of Culture to support family literacy and lifelong learning.
Elizabethtown-Kitley – Received a Trillium grant  for a chair lift (accessibility).
Grand Valley will be spending the literacy grant on two interactive workstations for children and enhancing the children’s collection.
Head Clara Maria – Renfrew Community Futures Grant to fund a digitization of community history project.
North Kawartha received provincial literacy grant and they plan to hang on to it until next year when they will be finished their strategic planning process. They also received a grant from Trillium for automation - $42,000.
Perth & District Union – Will apply for Trillium grant for the June 1^st deadline. Were successful last year for senior’s programming. Petawawa – Renfrew Counties Community Futures grant helped pay for an adult programmer.
Smith-Ennismore received a Trillium grant for automation - $92,000, and a provincial literacy grant.
Waterloo PL – received LSDF grant to create digital heritage walking tours of Uptown Waterloo – part of the library’s efforts to celebrate Waterloo’s 150^th anniversary; also received a grant from Waterloo Regional Heritage Foundation for the library’s “Waterloo 150” project, a showcase of 150 historical and contemporary individuals of influence in the Waterloo community, the info will be posted on the library website.
Whitewater received a Trillium grant to finance the automation project. Deseronto – received the Literacy grant of $10,500 but also received a $69,000 grant to improve accessibility in the library – washrooms, entrance way and for the heating system.
Lambton County received a large sum for Literacy.
Lambton County also received a grant from the State of Texas to improve online access to their historical and genealogical collections. The library was contacted, and urged to apply for this grant. Watford/Warwick is the recipient.

Newmarket CEO conducted a review and the library fell short in all key categories.
Pembroke is in the pre-audit stages – initial review pinpointed lapses in human resources and policy areas.
Lincoln PL has a pre-audit scheduled for September. They hope to be accredited by the end of the year.

Belleville – Library has included an art gallery for many years - question about how the relationship with the art gallery and library start.  The city owns the library building; the curator of the art gallery is a library employee.  For the new gallery, major donor was John M. Parrott (gallery named in his honour).  Library carries insurance (in Prince Edward, have partnership with Arts Council who carry the insurance and in Trent Hills, the artists displaying works have to get their own insurance).
Bracebridge -  the library participated in the Family EXPO held in Huntsville.
Pembroke has a “Your card has value” campaign on – where users presenting their library card at selected retailers will get a discount.

Cornwall – No more free connectivity because the company who was providing it was sold.
Elizabethtown-Kitley - Highspeed network for the three branches.

TC # 7 discussion on library board relationship with municipal councils – some good some non-existent – need for more lobbying.
Augusta Twp – a lot of support from local officials.
Cornwall – Discussing with the municipality about parking problems. Only 5 parking spots and 2 of those are reserved for the handicapped. Also the parking lot is very dark at night. Trying to get 10 parking spots from the Chamber of Commerce. Problems with markings at the front of the building. Discussing the problem with the municipality and the landlords.
Niagara Falls has good relationship with Council. City salary increases and benefits are passed on to library staff. The City also does the library’s payroll.
Burlington PL staff can participate in senior staff rotations with the town staff as secondments.
Halton Hills senior staff are buddied with councillors.
Springwater – invites municipal council to a BBQ.
Trent Hills – municipality looks after their books – but have been busy and so no financial statements in some time (Cramahe Board has just ended a service contract with municipality for financial administration, due to problems).

Athens Twp - Problems with some unattended children. – Would like to get a very simple, unattended children’s policy, because the library is so small. Thinks the ones that were discussed in our LC clinic in February-March covers too much stuff for their little library.
Cavan Millbrook has had an issue with unattended children in the library.  Discussion at TC resulted in policies being traded around between area libraries to assist.
Whitby has had security issues in the new central library and has had to hire a security officer to roam the library afternoons and evenings and weekends. 
Pickering has hired a retired police officer as a security officer.
Kingston-Frontenac – has installed security cameras in certain areas of the main branch (at the request of the union) but now have to deal with a privacy issue (e.g. how long to hold tapes and what to do if the police want to see the tapes.
Woodstock may need to install security cameras in and around the library.

OLBA highlighted “Trustee as a person in the community” feature. Looking at the contribution beyond the library board. OLBA will be putting together an elections package for libraries with questions for all candidates meetings and suggestions on how to promote the library in the election.
OLBA rep at TC#6 presented a Summary of Results for a Survey undertaken at the OLA Super Conference 2006. 

Top Significant Accomplishment since January 2004

-                      new or renovated facility or branch
-                      strategic planning
-                      budget success (increased amounts, support or balance)
-                      successful grants
-                      awards and celebrations
-                      improved library-municipal relationships
-                      improved governance skills
-                      new programs
-                      accreditation
-                      advances in advocacy

Biggest Leadership Challenge

-                      -Strengthening relationship with municipal council (30)
-                      Improving knowledge & understanding of roles & responsibilities (25)
-                      Securing alliances/partnerships with other community organizations (38)

Key issues facing libraries now and in foreseeable future

-                      building a facility (16)
-                      funding/fundraising (8)
-                      strategic planning (5)
-                      Keeping up with fast growth and technology (4)
-           Board recruitment (2)

Bruce County Library is playing a lead role in coordinating a county-wide Seniors portal to all kinds of community and government information.
Waterloo PL is partnering with local independent bookstore to celebrate 100^th birthday of McClelland Steward publisher with a wine and cheese and author readings; tickets $10 with proceeds going to WPL’s family literacy programs.
L.E. Shore – in partnership with Beaver Valley Outreach, has started a homework club; BVO received a Trillium grant of $10,500 to purchase 6 laptop computers for the homework club; the laptops are compatible with other library programs.
Pembroke in partnership with Kiwanis telethon – prize was an “at home story time” – that can be used for birthday party activities, etc. Library participated in Plowing Match events by hosting a “Kids’ zone”.

Bracebridge – the library holds travel talks, a lunch hour teen program and an after school pre-teen program.
Haldimand added adult programs (book clubs, scrabble group, chess group) and they are doing well.
Prince Edward – through government employment – hired a person to develop a seniors/shut-in program for the library & now hope to continue.
Lambton County holds an event called GenreCon annually. This is the focus of the County’s Need to Read week, and this year they featured 8 published horror authors, with a full spectrum of workshops and panel discussions.

Meaford has recently signed two reciprocal borrowing agreements – with Grey Highlands PL and L.E. Shore Library; are considering others; this generated discussion of the one library card for Ontario idea, which is very appealing to the trustees in attendance.
Waterloo PL – pleased to announce that there is now reciprocal borrowing with all libraries within Waterloo Region, including Kitchener PL.

Ajax anticipates difficulty with the new 4 year terms; they are doing orientation meetings for potential board members with information posted in the library, but find it hard going against the sports lobby.
Clarington created a flyer called “Get on Board” to recruit interested members to their board, distributed copies at TC.
Newmarket submitted a list of good board member qualities to council and they were ignored.
Pickering has lots of applications for board positions, they have a good range of expertise on their board, hold open board meetings for potential board members.
Chatham-Kent has a recruitment committee and a policy.

Brockville – Right now the library is closed Sunday and Monday and some people would like it to be open 7 days/week. It would cost $4,400 to staff one extra full day. Possible solution: Buying a self check-out machine which would require no additional staff and on this extra day, there would not offer reference service either. Will inquire with the Nepean Public Library staff who already bought one of those machine (cost: $25,000). The Senior’s portal still exists but the Brockville Public Library site is now closed because the grant was not renewed. It seemed that all the senior’s wanted to do on this Web site was chat and they were more than willing to give out their personal information like addresses and telephone numbers; this practice was a cause a concern to the library staff.

Bonnechere currently has a library manager and is advertising for an MLS to take over as CEO.
Bracebridge – the library board, with the assistance of SOLS, has completed the search for a new CEO.
Huntsville – a fulltime children’s librarian has been funding in this years budget.
L.E. Shore – has had a difficult year, with concerned citizens opposing some staffing changes that were made; however, after 3 resignations and 1 termination without cause, library now pleased to report that the new staff is onboard and very qualified and committed.
Newmarket is doing a review of non-union staff salaries.
Pickering will be losing their CEO and Deputy CEO to retirements in the next 3 years.
Smith-Ennismore-Lakefield – Ennismore Branch Librarian is retiring after 35 years.
Uxbridge requested information from other libraries on staffing in the library prior to opening for public hours – how many staff? How much before?
Whitby is open on Sunday afternoons, tremendously successful.  Info Whitby closed down and the service is being assumed by the central library.

Ajax is following its strategic plan and its commitment to excellence, currently doing focus groups with the business community and plan to do focus groups with seniors in the fall.
Cavan Millbrook developed a 5-year strategic plan.
East Gwillimbury is working on strategic plan with SOLS consultant.
Guelph – pleased to report that after many cycles of a new technology plan every 3 years, the Board has recently made the decision that the current one will be the last, thereafter technology being integrated into the library’s strategic plan.
L.E. Shore – embarking on strategic planning process, with SOLS assistance; will provide direction to the new board.
Pembroke board member distributed a Strategic Planning Workbook by the Ontario East Municipal Conference.
Meaford has just completed a strategic plan for 2006-10; a new building is the core issue.
Newmarket completed a 3-year strategic plan and governance policy.
North Kawartha is working on a strategic plan to pass on to the new board, using a volunteer to facilitate the sessions.
Orillia is planning an evening on how to volunteer at the library including sitting on the Board.  Would like to match volunteers with work that fits with their expectations.
Penetanguishene – is developing a 5 year strategic plan.
Pickering will begin strategic planning with the new board.
Uxbridge completed their strategic plan, working on policies and procedures.
Renfrew has completed its Strategic Plan.
Lincoln has completed its Strategic Plan and covers the years 2006-09.
Oakville’s Council has produced a Master Plan which the library will use to feed into its Strategic Plan.
Welland has begun its strategic planning.
Mississauga has held community forums and conducted a survey to help develop a strategic plan.
Caledon is conducting an e-survey which will feed into its strategic plan.
Haldimand was not included in the town’s Master Plan. Library was acknowledged but nothing else.
Oxford County has just completed an operational review with the help of Jim Morgenstern, and has closed 5 small branches.
Woodstock is doing succession planning.
Chatham-Kent is concerned with succession planning.

Athens Twp – Bar coding of all the stacks is 60% done. They hope to have it all done by the Fall.
Augusta Twp - A lot of the Board members are very knowledgeable in technology so this helps save a lot of money when computer problems occur.
Bracebridge – the library partnered with other libraries in Muskoka District to upgrade the library system.
Bruce County's automation system up and running – have had to hire driver full-time because of increased ILLO and inter-branch exchanges; patrons surprised and pleased at how quickly they receive their books.
Cavan Millbrook is integrating its CAP site into the library, and received a grant for automation.
Elizabethtown-Kitley - New computers – Network now in place between the three branches – All the library stuff is now stored on the township server instead of the municipality server.
North Grenville is now online.
Waterloo PL have tendered for a Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) system to allow for introduction of self check-out later this year.
Oakville has implemented a new Horizon system and it is working well. The library has also implemented wireless access in the main branch.
St. Catharines upgrading its Horizon system. All its branches are connected via fiber optic cable.
Mississauga is moving to a new Horizon system.
Waterloo has installed wireless access throughout the library and started its e-branch last year.
Prince Edward – to improve high speed access, joined together with area HQNet and now have a portal not a website in place.  Works well with new online computer (done with L&A, Leeds, North Grenville, Rideau Lakes).
Brighton – have been promoting e-books – 30 people have registered and it's growing slowly.
Woodstock is installing self check.
Lambton County has upgraded to the Vubis System.