This letter was sent to the Board of Trustees of the Saskatoon Public Library on April 1, 2024:
April 1, 2024
Board of Trustees for Saskatoon Public Library:
Saskatoon doesn't need a new downtown library. I want to draw your attention to this letter to the editor I wrote for The StarPhoenix on how libraries will become obsolete:
Ashu M. G. Solo, "Saskatoon should shelve costly plan for new downtown library," The StarPhoenix, Jan. 30, 2024, URL: https://thestarphoenix.com/opinion/letters/letter-saskatoon-should-shelve-costly-plan-for-new-downtown-library
The online library I refer to in this letter to the editor is called Epic and is available at https://www.getepic.com/.
The existing downtown library already has a theatre, a meeting room, an art gallery, a computer classroom, a local history room, a kids' section, a kids' story room, an arts and crafts lab, a young adult section, computers, photocopiers, a writer in residence, outreach workers, a section for newspapers and magazines, and a section for movies, documentaries, music, audiobooks, and videogames. That's all Saskatoon needs in a downtown library.
The downtown library doesn’t need a kitchen, recording studios, and labs for post-production, 3D printing, graphic design, etc. These are services that private businesses should offer.
If more computers are needed for public usage, the computer classroom can be opened to the public when it isn’t being used for courses.
A lot of families don't want to use the current downtown library because of alcohol and illegal drug consumption there. I was talking to a security guard at the existing downtown library who said that people are drinking alcohol in the library and smoking marijuana in the washrooms including the washroom in the kids' section. Are you going to constantly have a security guard in each washroom? Recreational substance consumption will continue in the new downtown library so a lot of families won't want to use it too.
Some other libraries have seed libraries. Saskatoon Public Library should have a seed library too. This doesn’t require a new building. It requires a box to store the seeds.
Because the City of Saskatoon keeps building new facilities like a new police station, new art gallery, and now a new library, property taxes are way too high now and there isn’t enough funding for quickly fixing potholes, snow removal, and deicing.
There’s a lot of public anger about your decision to build a new downtown library. The will of the public should be respected for an issue like whether to build a new facility.
Sincerely,
Ashu M. G. Solo