Like many sectors of activity, but even more markedly than many others, Quebec’s public libraries suffer from a cruel lack of manpower.
A survey obtained by The duty estimates that there is a shortage of more than 1,300 employees (full-time equivalents, ETC in administrative jargon) in the national network. The overdraft concerns 737 technicians and no less than 475 librarians. Basically, the network is operating with a third of the necessary staff.
This shortage of qualified personnel influences the processing of books and documents, assistance with documentary research, programming and cultural activities of establishments, but also on their general management. In total, for this poor state of human resources (HR), the network only obtains a score of 30% in the national report card.
“Even if we advertise positions for technicians and librarians in certain municipalities, we are not able to fill them,” explains Eve Lagacé, general director of the Association of Public Libraries of Quebec (ABPQ), at the origin of the investigation. We need to train more people and get them interested in working in libraries. There is a lack of knowledge of the professions in our establishments. »
THE 2023 national portrait of Quebec public libraries unveiled Monday actually relates to the reference year 2022. The very first report, published last year, referred to 2019, the last pre-pandemic year. A new calculation method also made it possible to correct the truncated evaluation of the first study, which had overestimated the human resources available in the national network.
“Last year’s figures should have reflected what we are seeing this year,” comments Eve Lagacé. “We knew it and we were surprised by the first bulletin. The figures therefore prove what we have been saying for a long time: we have a third of HR that we should have in the network. »
An overall score of 64%
The overall method remains the same, focusing on five indicators evaluated as part of the BiblioQUALITÉ program: acquisition expenses, opening hours, surface area, seats and human resources. The analysis assigns a score in each case and an overall score by region then for the national whole.
The grade for the entire Quebec class is now 64%. This is a decline of 2 points compared to the end of the last decade.
The result deteriorates particularly in Estrie (-11 points) and in Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine (-10). The most notable improvements come from the Côte-Nord (+16), Nord-du-Québec (+13) and especially the metropolitan region (+30) which receives an overall score of 94% in the report.
This administrative region of Montreal includes 16 municipalities, and not just the City of Montreal as such. Moreover, the very good rating still given to this area is explained by this regional amalgam where we find towns in the west of the island, predominantly English-speaking municipalities historically benefiting from greater favor given to books. and libraries. “I would say there is still work to be done [à Montréal] », Diplomatically summarizes the director.
Here are the main conclusions of the investigation:
Acquisitions. The entire Quebec network receives a score of 84% in this area. This very good rating is explained by a leverage program from Quebec, launched in 2020 to double the amount of purchases covered by the cities responsible for libraries. The recommended annual collection refresh rate is 9%. In Quebec, it would have been necessary to purchase nearly 600,000 more books in 2022 to reach the level of excellence.
Business hours. The overall score is only 54%, a deterioration of 12 points since 2019. Chaudière-Appalaches comes at the bottom with a score of only 33%. On the other hand, Laval, which displays poor results overall, obtains a perfect score of 100% here.
Area. The overall result (66%) is stable compared to the last survey. Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean obtains the best evaluation (89%) and Laval, the worst (40%). There is a shortage of approximately 170,000 square meters of space in the network to guarantee good services (housing collections, etc.).
Seating places. The space is also used to provide seating, ensuring user comfort. The overall score of 78% remains appreciable. However, there is a shortage of nearly 15,000 places in public libraries.
Human ressources. The total score of 30% in this chapter hides even more salient flaws. For technicians, the score remains at 19% with a low of 6% in Estrie and Centre-du-Québec. For librarians, the score freezes at 10% with a total failure (0%) in Nord-du-Québec and a near total failure (1%) for Chaudière-Appalaches and the Capitale-Nationale.
So what to do?
For HR, Eve Lagacé would like to have a study carried out on the different regional realities. Recruiting professionals, for example, turns out to be much more difficult in remote regions, and we need to understand why and find solutions.
For all the problems, the ABPQ is pushing to launch a new Vaugeois plan, named after Minister of Culture Denis Vaugeois (1978-1981) who supported a vast library construction project in the 1980s.
“Forty years later, we would be due for a new development plan, a Lacombe plan,” said the director, using the name of the new Minister of Culture, Mathieu Lacombe. We are in discussions with the ministry to find ways to help municipalities offer this essential service, which offers much more than just access to book collections. Cities need state leverage. »
Last month, the ABPQ also launched requests to open a major digital project worth several hundred million in order to network and pool the 2.0 and 3.0 services of public libraries. “We are ambitious,” summarizes the director. We have a historic gap to make up in Quebec, so why not look at the two major projects at the same time? »