Faraday Township council heard from Kate Harris, the head librarian and CEO of the North Hastings Public Library at their meeting on Nov. 5, who presented the library’s draft budget for 2026. Harris and CAO Bernice Crocker comment to The Bancroft Times about Harris’ library budget presentation.

Harris presented her draft budget for the NHPL to Faraday council at their Nov. 5 meeting. She went over the 2025 year in review, including the fact that the library serves 5,000 residents in Bancroft, Limerick Township and Faraday, and has 17,164 items in its collection. She went over the 10 top most checked out books in that collection, including offerings by David Baldacci, Lee Child, Lisa Gardner, Steve Berry, Louise Penny, J.D. Robb, Nick Petrie, and James Comey. There were 980 Wi-Fi hours used to date, 797 items were added to their collection, 3,620 e-books were loaned, and 2,526 audio books were loaned out. The top highlights were; the library of things, home school resources, new children’s activities, the expanded large print collection, and the pilot home bound program. Harris explains the library of things and the home bound program in more detail;

“The Library of Things is a term for non-book, circulating resources. So, in our case that is the Rockhounding kit, Star gazing kits, and we also have STEAM kits for children. As we grow, we hope to add to these circulating items. For example, many libraries circulate musical instruments or tools in their Library of Things. The Home Bound program is one that seeks to get library resources to people who have mobility issues or difficulty getting around. This year, we piloted a program in the Riverstone Retirement Community, thanks in part to a donation from Choices (the thrift shop next door to us). Going forward we are looking to identify other communities or individuals who might benefit from direct library services. I have not built the program plan or the budget for this yet, so I don’t have a lot more information, but it’s something that we’re working on,” she says.

For the draft budget, under revenues, investment income remained the same for 2026 at $1120, the municipal grants from Bancroft, Faraday and Limerick went up four per cent in 2026, to $166,400, $35,880, and $4,680 respectively. Harris told The Bancroft Times that the funding for libraries generally comes from their municipalities;

“In our case, we are a union library under Bancroft but have service agreements with Faraday and Limerick also, who do not have their own libraries, so they contribute to our funding. The grants come from the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and Gaming for public libraries, both directly, and via our municipalities. Libraries are a weird entity because we’re a public service, and funded by our communities as such, but have our own Board and financial oversight,” she says.

Getting back to the draft budget for 2026, membership fees remained the same at $490, fines were $93 for 2025, while no fines were of course on record for 2026, there were no donations last year but there is a $200 donation for 2026, photocopy/fax fees were $2,641 for 2025, while a budget of $1,500 is in place for 2026, the connectivity grant has gone up from $2,832 to $2,952, service recovery fees have gone from $1,000 to $1,222, and the provincial grants for Bancroft, Faraday and Limerick remain the same at $8,867, $5,595 and $2,331. Overall, revenues went from $223,969 to $231,237.

For expenses, wages and benefits went up from $143,785 to $158,881.59, a 10 per cent increase, under pay equity requirements. Utilities went down seven per cent, from $15,517 to $14,500, library materials went down from $26,019 to $24,942.05, a four per cent decrease, programs saw a 12 per cent decrease, from $6,600 to $5,908, administration went from $22,206 to $20,503, and eight per cent decrease, information technology provided by the Town of Bancroft, saw an 11 per cent increase, from $4,642 to $5,142, and miscellaneous went from $5,200 last year to $1,200 in 2026. Overall, expenses went from $223,969 in 2025 to $231,237 in 2026.

Crocker told The Bancroft Times that Harris’ presentation was well received by council.

“Members had an opportunity to ask questions and present any concerns. The following motion was adopted;

BE IT RESOLVED that the council of the Township of Faraday accept the library report received from Kate Harris, as presented,” she says.

Harris told The Bancroft Times that she had a great presentation with Faraday, they’re all very competent folks.

“This is a draft budget, and the councils will have to vote to approve (or not), as they go through their own budget processes. We are asking each of our municipalities for a four per cent increase on their contributions. Overall, we’ve brought operating costs down across the board in the library, except in wages and Information Technology. Both of those are areas that pay people, and those are difficult costs to reduce with COLA and overall increases in prices. I’m very happy with it, we’re in a good position to increase our library’s services in a well-planned and controlled way. The highlights this year, is that our library still sees high circulation in print materials – we have some real readers in our communities here. We also see high numbers in inter-library loan for our small library, which demonstrates that we have a good collection with many desirable options,” she says.

Harris said that this summer they added circulating kits in support of community engagement and to support tourism in the area – as the summer cottagers increase their traffic enormously. They have a rockhounding kit that people can check out and it includes rock hounding supplies and Hastings County rock tourism information. They’ve also added a Star Gazing Kit for adults and children, which includes telescopes, beginner star gazing books, and other supplies for stargazing. She says that another important area to note is the high volume of computer and internet usage. The library is one of the only places that provides accessible internet, computer reference, and printing services. They have so many cottages and Airbnb’s without internet in the area, as well as locals that utilize the library for access. They get many tourists or seasonal residents in the summer who come to the library to do work or school for the day.

Harris revealed that they have welcomed a new Youth Programmer, Shannon Hockley, to their staff. She says Hockley began in September and they are establishing regular youth programming, as well as refreshing their learning activities in their children’s room, and monthly themed take home activities.

“We have had great success with our pilot homebound program — which involves bringing books to Riverstone Retirement Community every three weeks for individuals with mobility issues. We also help them set up their devices with Libby for audio books and e-books. We are building a program plan to expand this program going forward. There is not a timeline associated with this yet as we sort out the budget, funding, as well as navigate our upcoming move. In short, we’ve had a busy year maintaining our current level of service, as well as laying the foundation for future growth. My general thoughts on libraries as cornerstones of our communities is that they have a high social return on investment. For every dollar invested in a library, we generate multiple dollars in community value, whether that is through accessible access to information, literacy, access to government services, and everything else that you need internet and computers to engage with – as well as a knowledgeable and helpful staff on hand to help, for free. We remain one of the few third spaces in our societies, where a library card can gain you a warm (or cool, depending on the season) and safe place to be, social engagement, access to educational resources, leisure activities (books, movies, etc.),” she says. “Libraries are one of the best investments that a community can make in itself.”

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