State of Public Libraries | Two steps forward, one step back

After a very first study, presented in 2022, providing an overall portrait of Quebec libraries, the Association of Public Libraries of Quebec (ABPQ) has just published an update of this data. Several objective criteria, such as acquisitions, public access or human resources, make it possible to take the pulse of these essential cultural institutions.

New calculation, slight decline

In the eyes of the ABPQ, the overall results obtained as part of the study published in 2022 (which covered the year 2019, pandemic aside) were not the most resounding, with a final national score of 66%. . Three years later, the situation has apparently deteriorated slightly, with a drop of two percentage points. It should be noted, however, that the change in the calculation method concerning the “human resources” component has considerably reduced the overall total. In total, five criteria are examined at the provincial and local level, namely acquisitions (with a score of 84%), opening hours (54%), surface area (66%), seating (78 %) and human resources (30%).

Several advances…

No alarm: behind the deteriorated national average score due to the refinement of calculation for human resources, there are some progressions. This is particularly the case for document acquisitions, which reached a good score of 84% (compared to 70% in 2019). The number of seats has also evolved in the right direction (+4 percentage points to reach a very honorable 78%). As for the surface area of ​​our libraries, it received a fair score of 66% and remains stable.

…and some setbacks

Small anomaly in the picture: the score of 30% obtained by human resources, a drop of 35 percentage points. How ? Have we fired more than a third of our librarians? Nay, this poor performance is explained by the implementation of a new calculation method, in order to more faithfully reflect reality, explain the authors. There was a shortage of no less than 475 librarians and the equivalent of 737 technicians in 2022 to reach the highest standard, i.e. “to achieve the level of excellence allowing professional services to citizens: library management, support documentary research, cultural programming of the library, etc. “. As for opening hours, they also fell, to 54%, a likely consequence of the labor shortage and post-pandemic effects.

Bollés and dunce caps

The quality of library networks, based on the five pre-stated criteria, remains mixed depending on the region. That of Montreal serves as a model, with an average score of 94%, the Côte-Nord and Nord-du-Québec completing the top three. On the other side of the spectrum, according to the data recorded, Estrie (53%), the Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine region as well as Centre-du-Québec were in 2022 those which were lagging the most in terms of library resources.