Our Mission
The Palliser Regional Library is designed to provide all people with equitable access to informational, cultural, recreational, and educational materials and programs. We strive to provide opportunities to enhance literacy and individual life-long learning.
Palliser's Priorities
- To deliver services to meet the needs of our rural, urban, aboriginal, immigrant, and francophone communities.
- To seek out new partnerships and local ventures.
- Inter-branch, inter-library, and inter-agency cooperation in the delivery of services to the region.
- Collection development to meet the changing needs, expectations, and interests of the public.
- Collection maintenance and "weeding" to insure that the collection is relevant to our patrons.
- To offer opportunities for life-long learning and other educational, cultural and fun programming to the general public to enhance local services.
- To create a safe, cheerful place where children and adults alike can explore the great world of books, the internet, and programming that is of relevance to them.
- To offer staff and the public educations and training in use of our online services.
- To offer staff and the public education and training to assist them in addressing the digital divide.
- To maintain rural branches and their hours of opening. Our rural representatives have indicated that they are very afraid of losing yet another service.
- To promote the library profile in the community through online and standard marketing of our services.
About Palliser
Location: South-Central Saskatchewan
Population: 55,471
Branches: 19 Rural Branches & 1 City Branch (Moose Jaw)
- See the full list of Palliser branches here, or see the map below.
Representing: 73 Towns, Villages, and Urban / Rural Municipalities
Located within Treaty 4 territory
Our Facilities
- The Palliser region includes 7 stand-alone buildings (Craik, Elbow, Mossbank, Rockglen, Tugaske, Willow Bunch, Wood Mountain).
- 6 branches share facilities with the local municipal offices (Avonlea, Holdfast, Imperial, Mortlach, Rouleau, Riverhurst)
- 5 branches are located in community centers (Assiniboia, Briercrest, Bethune, Davidson, Moose Jaw).
- 2 branches are co-located in the business / medical complexes (Coronach, Loreburn).
- Although we work closely with both school divisions, we do not have branches co-located in schools.
- 30% (6) of our branches are located in communities without schools (Riverhurst, Tugaske, Elbow, Willow Bunch, Briercrest, Wood Mountain).
- Each host town is responsible for providing and maintaining their library facility. This includes heat, electricity, water, and building repairs.
- In addition, each library must provide telecommunications, public access to the internet, and have a staff computer capable of functioning with the SILS online catalogue.
2019 Statistics
Active Use Profile
| Age Group | Number of Active Patrons | Percentage of Total Active Patrons |
|---|---|---|
| 0-18 years | 2.456 | 19% |
| Adults | 7,770 | 62% |
| Seniors | 2.416 | 19% |
"Active user" refers to anyone whose card has been renewed since January 2016.
Current Issues Facing the Palliser System
The main issue facing the library system is adequate funding to address the new and changing needs of our population. Since 2011, Palliser has only received a 0.99% increase in total funding, despite emerging and increasing costs.
Palliser requires funding to account for:
- Rural depopulation
- The increased cost of library materials
- The cost of Palliser being a major source of inter-agency loan materials (Palliser sent out 145,142 loans in 2019)
- This includes the need to maintain courier service and the funds required to run vehicles
- The increased requirements of an online presence
- This includes hardware, support staff, software, and training for the staff and public
- The cost of running and maintaining the province-wide library system
- New material formats in demand by users
- This includes eBooks and audiobooks, among others
- The future goal of offering salaries that are competitive within the library sector
- Access to capital programs to assist municipalities with major branch repairs and construction of new branches
- Developing initiatives to:
- Meet the needs of the aboriginal, francophone, and immigrant communities
- Facilitate community assessments, strategic planning, and the redesign of Palliser to best serve the future
- Continue to develop the province-wide library system
- Work with local school boards and the school/student councils
- Work with schools to develop rural Pre-K initiatives
- Offer digital literacy training to staff and the public
For more information, contact your local library branch or email [email protected].