The provincial government has pledged $600,000 for the public library system, but there are concerns the money doesn’t go far enough.

Minister Krista Lynn Howell was in Lewisporte yesterday for the announcement.

Of that amount, $500,000 has been allocated for the Provincial Information and Library Resources Board’s core operating grant. That’s come as a disappointment to those who were hoping to see increases in library spending.

The Department of Education noted in 2022 that an additional $1.71 million was needed just to implement the goals in phase one of the NL Public Libraries’ Future State Plan.

Last year, concerns were raised about the fact that operating grants for libraries had not changed much over a decade, yet the cost of books had increased by close to 40 per cent.

Minister Krista Lynn Howell admits the one-time expenditure is what they could do for the time being.

“The budget session is upcoming,” says Howell, “and I’m sure we’ll have further discussions about those things in the next few months, but right now this was a resource that we could tap into…and we recognized that there was a need in our public library system.”

Another $100,000 will be provided to the board to support the expansion of the NL Public Libraries’ early years programming to include digital literacy tools.