2017 Finance Annual Report

CITY OF SURREY OVERVIEWS SURREY PUBLIC LIBRARY

Surrey Public Library has nine branches, located in the six town centres: Guildford, Fleetwood, Newton, City Centre, Cloverdale and South Surrey, as well as in Strawberry Hill, Ocean Park and Port Kells. The Library collects and loans a wide variety of materials in print, audiovisual and electronic formats. Information Services staff help customers with collections, online databases, eBooks and eAudio, internet sites and other information. Customers can ask questions in person, by telephone, or email. The Library’s website provides links to community organizations in Surrey and to useful sites on the internet. The library offers a wide variety of programs that support literacy, including story times for children, job finding and career workshops, reading clubs for children and teens, computer literacy classes, services for new Canadians and support for customers with print disabilities. Partnerships with local community agencies help to extend literacy programs beyon-b The Library is a member of the Public Library InterLINK, a federation of 18 library systems in the Lower Mainland that allows citizens to borrow directly from all partner libraries and to return materials at their home library branch. The department has responsibility for the following divisions:

PUBLIC SERVICES Public Services manages the borrowing and information services offered through our nine locations and plans, promotes and delivers a wide variety of programs. This division also acquires and manages the print and electronic collections that suit the needs of our diverse community.

ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES Administrative Services manages the physical spaces, as well as the finance, human resources and information technology functions of the Library system, ensuring day-to-day service requirements are met. This division also manages the Library’s image and raises awareness and funds to support and enhance its community services.

2 0 1 7 A C C O M P L I S H M E N T S • Worked with aboriginal community members and partners to offer Taan’s Moons: A Haida Moon Story exhibit and programs at City Centre and Semiahmoo Libraries, with over 1,600 residents in attendance. • Offered a Rainbow Storytime for LGBTQ+ families and friends. • Enhanced access to multilingual resources by beginning to catalogue Chinese collections with over 1,000 titles catalogued in 2017; and launched the book Surrey Stories Connect: Teens & Seniors Write Surrey, A Project of the Poet Laureate, sharing intergenerational and multicultural stories. • Offered library services and literacy skills to Surrey’s vulnerable and newcomer populations: 2,564 adults benefited from outreach programs, 228 users received reduced barrier “Access Cards” and 2,100 “Internet Only” users were registered for internet privileges.

• Celebrated the 30th anniversary of Surrey Library’s Young Adult Writing Contest with a Gala evening for award winners from over 400 entries of poems, short stories, memoirs and comics. • Celebrated Canada 150 and the joy of reading with a ‘What’s your favourite Canadian book?’ contest to identify Surrey’s top 20 Canadian reads, with over 1,500 participants. • Launched new website and events calendar to help Surrey residents find the information and programs they need from the Library. • Planned for a new library in Clayton Community Centre. Refurbished Fleetwood Library with new paint, shelving, computers, roofing and seating as well as refurbished Newton Library with new paint, carpet, roofing, signs and lighting.

• Helped citizens improve digital literacy skills with technology training in branches, online courses at Lynda.com, coding classes for children, storytimes with iPads and the launch of a Make it Digital station at Guildford Library that enables the conversion of analog content, such as VHS tapes, into a digital format or audio cassettes into CD. • Strengthened the creative economy with a new webpage for writers, surreylibraries. ca/local-authors, and self-e software to enable authors to publish their own ebooks online. • Promoted the value of learning by hosting the Grand Reading Link Challenge for kids from grades four and five, with 166 teams of kids from 32 Surrey Schools, as well as kids from Greater Vancouver schools.

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