City of Surrey's 2024 Annual Financial Report

CITY OF SURREY OVERVIEWS SURREY PUBLIC LIBRARY

Surrey Public Library (“Surrey Libraries”) has ten branches, located in the six town centres of Whalley, Guildford, Fleetwood, Newton, Cloverdale and South Surrey, as well as in Clayton, Strawberry Hill, Ocean Park and Port Kells. The Library collects and loans a wide variety of materials in print, audiovisual, and online formats. It also offers home delivery service, utilizing volunteers to take library materials to people who cannot visit a branch. Additionally, the Mobile Library service provides access to library materials in underserved areas of the city. The surreylibraries.ca website provides 24/7 access to the library catalogue, digital collections and program information. From the website, patrons can download eBooks and eAudio books, as well as access a wide selection of online resources, including articles, courses and streaming media. Partnerships with local community agencies extend literacy programs beyond the Library’s walls. Surrey Libraries offers a wide variety of programs that support life-long literacy and learning, including storytimes for children, job finding and career workshops, reading clubs for children, teens and adults, computer literacy and coding classes, services for newcomers, and support for patrons with print disabilities, just to name a few. Surrey Libraries 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 BC OneCard program allows Surrey residents to borrow materials directly from other participating public libraries from across BC when they are travelling.

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 public profile and raises awareness and funds to support and enhance its community services.

PUBLIC SERVICES Public Services manages the borrowing and information services offered in branches and online, 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 Surrey’s diverse community.

2024 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Launched Mobile Library Service to extend service out into the community • Hosted our first Indigenous Knowledge Keeper • Offered Punjabi, Filipino, Cantonese, Rainbow Family, Adapted and American Sign Language storytimes • Launched sensory kits to support neurodiverse patrons visiting the library

• Supported a variety of inclusion themes such as Pride, Orange Shirt Day, Islamic Heritage Month, and Diwali, through booklists and displays • Added online resources such as Citizenship Counts and Arrivals in English for newcomers to prepare for citizenship. • Provided resources for job seekers such as LinkedIn Learning, Career Cruising, WorkBC Career Discovery, and Kanopy Great Courses

• Added play-based learning toys at all branches • Completed over 70% of the actions in the Sustainable Libraries Initiative Certificate program • Installed new service desks at Strawberry Hill and Newton branches • Conducted a signage audit to help inform a signage strategy

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