Contact info@bookclubsforinmates.com to get involved.
The Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library Board has launched a new fundraising initiative to help offset rising costs.
According to a June 23 news release, public libraries are busier than ever. As costs continue to rise, and expectations for library services, programs, and resources keep growing, funding pressures are increasing.
Core provincial government funding for public libraries has remained unchanged since 2020.
For the 2026–27 fiscal year, the Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library Board, is facing a funding gap of $140,000. The library board represents seven branch libraries, and offers a borrow by mail service, outreach services, and an extensive virtual library.
To address this challenge, the board has launched the Library Fund with a goal of raising $300,000 by March 31, 2027.
“We heard loud and clear during our public awareness campaign last December that our communities value their public libraries,” said Nicole LeBlanc, chair of the regional library board’s marketing and communications committee.
“But to continue providing the materials, services, programs, and hours that library users rely on, we need community support,” LeBlanc said. “Together, we can ensure that public libraries remain vibrant, accessible, and sustainable community spaces for years to come.”
According to the news release, meeting this goal will not only close the current funding gap but also allow the regional library to make an initial $160,000 investment in its long-term sustainability.
Over time, growing this fund will create a source of investment income that can help safeguard and strengthen free public library services, available to all, for future generations, the release notes.
Library users, supporters, business owners, and community partners are invited to contribute.
Donations can be made at any library branch through newly installed Donation Stations or online at www.parl.ns.ca.
Supporters can also participate in fundraising raffles and auctions that will be organized by individual library branches.
Those interested in making a larger contribution, including gifts of publicly traded securities or other forms of planned giving, are encouraged to contact the library at 1-888-779-7761.
Source: New Glasgow News
The newest Annapolis Valley Regional Library board member says he wants to give the biggest push he can to save branches that are slated to close.
The regional library board’s chief executive officer Julia Merritt announced a major restructuring of services on June 1, including the closure of the Hantsport, Kentville, Lawrencetown, Middleton, and Port Williams branches effective July 20. Nine full-time equivalent positions will be eliminated.
“Closing them should be a last resort, not a first resort,” Kentville Mayor Andrew Zebian said.
At its June 22 meeting, Kentville town council passed a motion to appoint Zebian to the Annapolis Valley Regional Library board. The position was previously held by Coun. Samantha Hamilton. In a social media post, Zebian thanked Hamilton for her time and commitment to the board.
On June 23, Zebian said the town’s nominating committee had met several days earlier and decided that because the situation with the pending closure of the Kentville library branch had reached a critical point, they would recommend the change in board representation. Zebian said the appointments are typically for two years, and Hamilton began her term this past fall.
Zebian said meeting minutes indicate that library board members became aware on May 2 that the Kentville branch was among the potential closures, but this hadn’t been communicated to council.
He said the library board officially voted to close five branches on May 25, but he and council didn’t learn the Kentville branch would close until it was announced publicly on June 1. If council had been given more time, “we might not be in this spot now,” he said.
“From the council’s perspective, we just felt that if we’d had that four- or five-week window, we might have been able to have more conversations with the board or the province,” he said.
Zebian said he wants to “give it the biggest push I can” in terms of trying to save the Kentville library and other branches from closure. Sitting on the library board will allow for direct input on future decisions. He said putting all the mayors and wardens from the partner municipalities on the board may be what is needed at this point.
He said Kentville council also passed a motion on June 22 to withdraw funding from the Annapolis Valley Regional Library, although the decision wouldn’t go into effect until December 2027. If it ends up that the Kentville branch can be saved, he said council could rescind that motion.
The mayor said he had been asking the library board a lot of questions over the past couple of weeks that hadn’t been asked before, “so there may be paths forward that we can work toward keeping some of these branches open.”
Zebian said he thinks the province should increase regional library funding, but better communication between the board and town could have also had a positive impact.
Town fulfilled request
He said the library board requested a funding increase from the eight municipal partners in January, with only three providing the full amount requested: Kentville, West Hants, and Annapolis Royal.
The other five municipalities provided a percentage of the requested increase. Zebian said that, collectively, the regional library may have received about 50 per cent of what was asked for in terms of increased municipal funding.
If the municipal partners had provided the full amount, he said it may not have been enough to save all five branches, but perhaps some could have remained open.
Zebian said he continues communicating with Kings North MLA and Finance Minister John Lohr on the subject, and with Communities, Culture, Tourism, and Heritage Minister Dave Ritcey through Lohr. The mayor said he “remains hopeful that there will be a positive outcome for all the branches.”
He said Kentville is the busiest of all the regional library branches, so in a way has the most to lose. He was surprised by the announced closure, especially after the town provided the full increase requested. In this regard, the board’s decision is difficult to understand or digest.
Zebian said that at no point did the library board approach the town about needing a further increase to keep the branch open.
“I do understand that the board is under pressure and maybe they felt like they were being pushed into a corner, but I still have to say that the communication between the board itself directly to me, which then would go to council, I don’t think was handled as well as it should have been,” the mayor said.
Quiet protests and read-ins continue to occur across the Annapolis Valley as residents lobby to have the pending library branch closures reversed. Terri Milton, a retired Nova Scotia Community College librarian, has attended protests in Middleton, Hantsport, Windsor, and Kentville. She told the newspaper it is important to fight to keep the branches open.
“Libraries are so much more than books, and if you only treat libraries as rooms full of books, it’s easy to think of them as expendable, but they’re not,” Milton said while protesting in Windsor June 16.
“They are the cornerstones of their community in so many ways. They are places for literacy; they are places for access to the internet. They level economic inequity.”
Source: Annapolis Valley Register
Vacant provincial appointee positions on the Annapolis Valley Regional Library (AVRL) board are not the reason why the decision to close five branches wasn’t communicated in advance to government officials.
Following the June 1 announcement of the branch closures, Kings North MLA and Finance Minister John Lohr was among the government officials to issue statements on social media.
The statement said he was “surprised and disappointed by AVRL’s decision to close half of their library services. Everyone has the right to be upset and ask questions, including why the decision was made.”
The members of Neuro-GLAM-orous Canada invite you to participate in their fourth annual free online conference.
Conference Date: August 21st, 2026
Location: Online (registration forthcoming)
Time: 1:00 pm-5:00 pm Atlantic Daylight Time
Proposal deadline: July 2nd, 2026
Potential Topics:
The theme of this year’s conference is Hopepunk: Neurodiversity, GLAM, and Neurodivergent Knowledge Justice
“Knowledge justice is based on the principle that each person has the equal capacity to be knowledgeable, yet this right is often denied to individuals based on the social identities they hold. It also involves recognizing that some knowledge systems, particularly those of Indigenous peoples, have been purposefully ignored, eliminated, or silenced.”
What is Knowledge Justice? – Knowledge Justice in the Helping Professions
Knowledge justice impacts us as neurodivergent information practitioners through our practice, and in our communities and workplaces. It asks us to consider how we work professionally and personally to counter misinformation and address inequities as information professionals.
Hopepunk is a subgenre of speculative fiction and art that focuses on optimism, gentleness, kindness, and collaboration as effective weapons in the fight to create a better future.
This year we invite submissions that respond to how the concept of Hopepunk shows up at the intersection of information professions and neurodivergence. Of particular interest is how we can engage with Hopepunk and knowledge justice themes to build sustainable affirming communities in the face of job cuts, funding cuts, gaslighting, lack of inclusion, and injustice.
“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”
– G.K. Chesterton
Presentations, panels, and lightning talks may relate to, but are not limited to:
For those interested, the conference will conclude with a “Five Minute Fascinators” event where participants are invited to talk about a special interest for five minutes and why they think it is so interesting. If you are interested in participating, a call will go out less formally the day of the conference.
After the conference there will be a channel created on the Neuro-GLAM-orous Canada Discord server for ongoing discussions and follow up to discussions raised during the event and where links to recordings will be posted.
Guidelines
We invite proposals for individual presentations as well as for panel submissions.
Presentations and panel discussions can be pre-recorded or delivered live.
For individual presentations, please submit:
For complete panels, please submit:
At Neuro-GLAM-erous Canada we believe that the personal and professional are political, and encourage participants to think of themselves as whole beings. The sphere of vulnerability this creates will require tact and understanding. While this is a space to learn and be vulnerable; however, harassment, bigotry, and bad-faith actors will not be tolerated.
Submit proposals:
By form: NeuroGLAM 2026: Conference Call for Proposals – Fill out form
Or return attached template to: neuroglamcon@gmail.com
Direct questions to: neuroglamcon@gmail.com
Additional information can be found here
Officials with the Nova Scotia government and Annapolis Valley Regional Library have agreed to another meeting as the book is set to close on five branches next month.
The library’s board announced plans on June 1 to close branches in Hantsport, Kentville, Lawrencetown, Port Williams and Middleton as of July 20 due to funding pressures.
Julia Merritt, CEO of the regional library, said in an interview Monday that the next meeting has yet to be scheduled. But she said without an increase in funding, the closures will go ahead.
Kentville’s mayor says the town should have been part of any talks about the future of its library before the branch was selected for closure.
The Kentville Library is one of five Annapolis Valley Regional Library branches slated to close July 20.
Branches in Hantsport, Lawrencetown, Middleton and Port Williams are also scheduled to close.
In a new statement, Mayor Andrew Zebian says Kentville does not want to lose its branch.
“First and foremost, the Town of Kentville does not want to lose this branch,” Zebian wrote. “The Kentville Library is an important community asset, and Council has consistently supported it.”
Zebian says AVRL raised concerns with town staff in February about safety and day-to-day operations at the current Kentville branch.
A SafetyWorks assessment was done, and the report identified issues and made recommendations for the existing building.
But Zebian says those concerns did not lead to a request for the town to help find another location.
“At no point during that process was there a request from AVRL for the Town of Kentville to identify or secure a new location for the library,” he wrote. “There was no formal discussion with Council regarding the selection of an alternative site.”
Zebian also says Kentville supported AVRL’s recent funding request.
He says the town fully backed the request, along with the Municipality of West Hants and the Town of Annapolis Royal.
Kentville council also agreed to provide an extra $21,400 for each of the next two years.
“My view remains that the Town of Kentville should have been part of any discussions about the future of this branch,” Zebian wrote. “We demonstrated our commitment through our funding, and we remain committed to supporting library services in our community.”
Zebian says he is still speaking with provincial representatives and others involved in the issue.
He says he hopes there is still a way to keep the Kentville branch open.
“This is a service our community values deeply, and I will continue working to ensure that voice is heard,” Zebian wrote.
Source: YourTricounties.ca
Work on a new waterfront library in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) has been delayed as the proposed commercial space at the site has expanded.
Last December, the CBRM council approved a project for the Central Library on the Sydney Waterfront. The building, which would be made in partnership with Doucet Developments, would also feature residential units and commercial spaces along the boardwalk.
The developer had originally agreed to submit building permits by late June, but now says it will be able to finalize its designs and development permit submission by October.
“According to the developer, site work is expected to begin in late summer/early fall as construction activities commence,” a staff report to council reads.
Council approved the extension at a special meeting on Monday.
According to the staff report, the developer has increased the proposed number of residential units from 138 to approximately 186, which represents a 36 per cent increase. The expanded design is expected to provide up to 8,000 square feet of additional commercial space.
The library space, which is planned to occupy 35,000 square feet on the ground floor of the building, would replace the James McConnell Memorial Library, which opened in 1960 and expanded in 1987. The municipality has noted the older building no longer meets the technology and accessibility needs of the community.
The municipality previously said the new library is expected to open in 2028.
Source: CTV News Nova Scotia
As five library branches in the Annapolis Valley face closure due to funding pressures, Chester is taking a different approach.
South Shore Public Libraries has opened a new branch in the community, expanding access to library services at a time when library systems across Nova Scotia are warning about financial challenges.
The contrast is not lost on CEO and Chief Librarian Ashley Nunn-Smith.
The Pictou Antigonish Regional Library is taking more steps to secure additional funding to maintain programming.
Chief Librarian Eric Stackhouse says they are currently setting up donation stations at each branch allowing users to make cash donations or electronically through their debit and credit cards. Stackhouse says another measure is establishing a fund to help PARL remain on stable financial footing.
Stackhouse says the board is trying to be realistic with financial support from the province not expected to increase, while trying to meet the needs of its users.
Source: 989 XFM
