Library hours cut back in Ompah

Feb 11, 2010

Some users of the Ompah Library were shocked to find out that library hours there have been cut back. A recent press release announcing the re-opening of the Plevna branch, which was closed over a year ago due to an insurmountable mold problem, stated that hours at the Plevna branch will increase by two, totaling ten, and those at the Ompah branch will decrease by two, totaling four instead of six. Since there are just two libraries in the north, that news has angered many regular users of the Ompah branch.

Marily Seitz, head of the Ompah Library Expansion Committee, was shocked to read of the cutbacks and immediately contacted Patricia Enright, coordinator for the rural branches of the KFPL, to find out the reasons why. Seitz was informed that the decision to change the hours was made by the library board on the recommendations of the staff. She said, “It seems that the expectation is that library users in Ompah will drive to Plevna if they want more access. What the library board doesn’t understand is that many people in Ompah don’t drive to Plevna. When we go into town it is usually to Perth to get a whole list of tasks accomplished in a single trip. And the library in Perth is not a member of the KFPL branch. “

Seitz pointed out that for her and a number of other Ompah library users, a trip to Plevna can be a 45-minute round trip.

When Enright suggested to Seitz that Ompah users might also consider traveling to the Sharbot Lake branch Seitz explained to her that Ompah users do not usually travel to Perth through Sharbot Lake but via Snow Road Station and McDonalds Corners, neither of which have library branches.

While there has been no recent talk of the Ompah library’s imminent closing Seitz worries that the loss in hours at the Ompah branch might be “a small step ..eventually leading to the library’s closure”.

According to Seitz roughly 10 years ago the KFPL library board hired a consultant to report on all of the KFPL's rural branches and one of their recommendations was the building of a larger branch in Plevna and the closure of the Ompah branch.

Seitz also pointed out that though the Ompah library is a smaller facility compared to Plevna, numbers show that its circulation has always been higher. Seitz stressed, “It seems wrong to penalize the library where most of the readers are.”

Four years ago Seitz and a number of other members of the Ompah Book Club banded together and formed the Ompah Library Expansion Committee. Since then they have been planning to expand the branch, which currently is housed in a tiny 325 square foot space, an addition onto the Ompah Community Centre. When the committee found out about township plans to eventually relocate the fire hall in Ompah, they made plans to move the branch into the fire hall, which would offer roughly seven times more space.

Linda Rush is also a member of the expansion committee and a dedicated user of the Ompah branch. She said, “We are very happy about the opening of the new Plevna branch and are very happy for them to have all of their hours back but Ompah is a very active little library and the committee has been proactive in planning to expand our facility, so the recent decrease in our hours is obviously very upsetting.”

Rush also said that the library board plans to reassess the new hours delegated to the two branches in a year’s time but she worries that fewer available user hours in Ompah will result in a decrease in circulation there and will bring about “the beginning of the end.” She added, "For this reason we want them (the library board) to reassess the new hours sooner.”

Seitz and other members of the Ompah Library Expansion Committee plan to attend the opening of the Plevna’s new branch and raise their concerns with the KFPL Library board members there. "We definitely want to get those hours back and we want them to know that when the Ompah fire hall is eventually moved that we will be asking for a larger facility for Ompah users.”

She added, “ We have also written a letter to the township council and are asking for a resolution from them saying that they also would like to see those hours reinstated.”