This year Saskatchewan Library Week will be taking place from October 17 - 23. The theme for this year is Get Connected: Saskatchewan Libraries; A Resource for All Ages. This theme is intended to celebrate the value of libraries and to raise the awareness of the importance of libraries to people who don't normally make use or realize the benefits of libraries to their community, and to encourage people to read.

To promote Saskatchewan Library Week, the Saskatchewan Library Association has distributed a promotional package throughout the province as part of this campaign. The Promotional material includes Posters, "Key to Your Library Contest" forms, and a poster promoting the "My Favourite Book Contest". Through the various contests and promotions, library patrons are encouraged to try new services and to write about their favourite book. Individual libraries are invited to build upon the provincial programs through local events and promotions. This year the winners of the "My Favourite Book Contest" will be chosen by representatives of SaskEnergy, the main sponsor of the program. A selection of winning entries will be read on the air on CBC Radio One on the Afternoon Edition with Cohn Grewar. All winners in the "My Favourite Book Contest" will receive book prizes from Canadian Publishers. The Saskatchewan Writers Guild, a province-wide organization representing writers, also takes part in Saskatchewan Library Week by sponsoring authors for readings in libraries throughout Saskatchewan.

Authors that will be travelling through the Chinook Regional Library System as part of the Saskatchewan Library Week Celebrations are Doris Bircham and Anne Slade. These two local authors, who recently appeared at the popular Festival of Words in Moose Jaw, will be presenting Prairie Women II. Prairie Women II is a birth to death cycle of poems, songs and prose that portrays the role of women on the prairies.

Shannon White is one of Swift Current Library's most faithful Library users. Why Shannon has appeared almost daily at the Library for the last year may not be the reason you might first guess. In fact it is the same reason that an extra 4,881 users visited Swift Current Library in 1998 alone. It is the Internet. Shannon first got onto the Internet with the help of her eldest daughter. Although Shannon found the experience overwhelming at first, once she became more comfortable using the Internet, she realized that "the amount of information is unbelievable. You can travel the world through the computer." Shannon hasn't looked back since, she has used the Internet from everything such as tracing her genealogy. to finding old friends and to even making new ones. Shannon also uses the Internet to look at magazines and newspapers online and likes to use the Swift Current Branch Library web site to find out what is happening at the library.

Not only has Shannon found the Internet to be useful, but so have her two daughters who have used the Internet to look up information for their homework. Besides locating the information on the Internet, they have often "found references to books on the web that they can borrow from the library."

Although Shannon did use the Swift Current Branch Library before she started using the Internet, she finds that not only is she in the library more often, but she borrows more materials. Shannon is more likely to browse through the library while waiting for her Internet appointment and she has also found that her familiarity with using the Internet has made her "more likely to use the online catalogue because it is easier to locate books."

When asked whether she thinks the library should be providing Internet access, Shannon answers with a resounding "yes!" "Libraries should be providing this service because the library is a great resource, and so is the Internet. They go hand in hand."

The 1999 Chinook Regional Library Annual Book Sale made a total profit of $1,369.76. A special thanks to the Prairie Pioneers of the Kiwanis Club and other volunteers who supervised the sale!

Due to phenomenal price increases in the cost of reading materials, Chinook Regional Library is faced with the possibility of spending more of its financial resources to buy fewer materials. It has been reported in professional library journals that book price inflation is occurring at an annual rate of 7.2%. Also, the majority of books which the Chinook Regional Library purchases are originally published in the United States and for most of the decade the Canadian/United States dollar exchange rate has been disadvantageous to Canadian buyers. According to Bank of Canada figures, there was a 7.15% decrease in the exchange rate of the Canadian dollar between 1997 and 1998 alone.

The U.S. average price per volume for hardcover non-fiction books rose from $31.64 in 1986 to $50.22 in 1997, an increase of 59% or 5% annually over that twelve year period. If this trend continues over the next five years, and if the Chinook Regional Library Book Acquisitions Budget remains constant over that period, then the number of hardcover books acquired by the Chinook Regional Library each year will obviously decline. In concrete terms, this would mean the 4,118 hardcover books that Chinook Regional Library purchased in 1997 would equate to only purchasing 3,088 volumes in 2002.

Between 1987 and 1997 the average price of fiction paperbacks rose from $3.59 to $8.51 for an average increase of 12.5% annually over that eleven year period. If again we look at the same five year scenario for paperbacks, the 16,431 paperbacks purchased in 1997 would be reduced to 6,572 volumes.

Despite the continuing increase in the price of books, the number of new~titles being published each year continues to rise as well. American book title production rose to a total of 65,796 titles being printed in 1997 compared to only 49,756 titles being published in 1993.

It also must be understood that the Chinook Regional Library book collection is continuing to age in an environment where fewer and fewer books can be purchased. Not only are books in the Chinook Regional Library's collection detericorating from age and extended use, but the accuracy of information in some of the older non-fiction books is poor due to their lack of up-to-date information. As a result, although the library's total volume statistics gives a healthy appearance, the book collection is overdue for weeding in several subject areas.

Despite high inflation on book prices Chinook Regional Library has been able to maintain the number of volumes being purchased. Annual increases in Chinook Regional Library's Books and Materials budget, 14.26% in 1997 and 2.59% in 1998, have helped extend Chinook Regional Library's purchasing power. In addition, Chinook Regional Library has stretched funding even further by purchasing more trade and paperback editions of titles. Chinook Regional Library has also purchased used large print materials to increase the number of copies available. However, these budget stretching measures are merely temporary fixes that defer a crucial situation that must be addressed. Chinook Regional Library cannot continue to increase the number of mass market paperbacks ordered over hard cover editions, for not only must there be a balance between the two, but steady price increases in the cost of paperbacks will eventually make them a more expensive alternafive. With the increases taking place in the book industry, Chinook Regional Library will require diligence in purchasing and an adequate budget to meet the needs of its reading public.

Regional Librarian, Michael Keaschuk, and Aidan Meegan, Chief Librarian of the Swift Current Branch, attended the 1999 Canadian Library Association Conference in Toronto. The theme of the conference was Facing the Challenges: A Practical Survival Guide. Aidan Meegan received a bursary from the Canadian Association of Public Libraries for new librarians to attend the conference.

The Chinook Regional Library Board will meet on November 20 at 1:00 p.m.. The meeting will take place at Regional Headquarters and registration will begin at 12:30 p.m. Topics to be discussed will be the budget, a technology update, and more. Ensure that your municipality is represented!

20 Years Ago (1979)

• - August 30 - The Burstall Branch opened its doors to the public.
• - November 24 - The Executive approved the purchase of the present Headquarters Building

15 Years Ago (1984)

• - March 13 - A revised edition of the Chinook Regional Library Branch Manual was completed and distributed to all Branch Libraries.
• - April 23 - Stewart Valley Branch moved from the old school to improved facilities in the old hall.
• - June 22 - Va Marie Branch Library, located in the new village complex, celebrated its official opening.
• - September 28 - The first edition of the trustees' newsletter, UPDATE was printed and distributed.

Author Visits. Dr. Grant MacEwan, guest of Saskatchewan Library Week, spoke to a captivated audience on October 23, 1984 at Swift Current Library.

10 Years Ago (1989)

• - August 28 - Chinook Regional Library Headquarters began online use of its microcomputer catalogue using Mandarin software. A total of 68,216 catalogue entries were loaded into the catalgue.
• - October 2 - Pennant Branch moved from the old village office to larger quarters in the new community centre.
• - Shirley Syrenne assumed the duties of Bookkeeper at Headquarters
• - Robsart Branch Library was closed.

Maple Creek Branch. Maple Creek began a five-year upgrading plan by rearranging their shelving, reception area and reading area in 1989.

5 Years Ago (1994)

• - September 1 - Doreen Roberts began her duties as an inter-library loan clerk.
• - September 30 - October 5 - Headquarters staff assisted staff and volunteers at Maple Creek Branch in removing old shelving, installing new shelving, and organizing the collection.
• - November 25 - The primary subject at the Library Director's Meeting was the latest developments regarding access to the provincial union catalogue, through the Saskatchewan Utility Network in early 1995.

Library Award. Jake Dyck, Chairman of the Herbert Library Board, accepts the 1994 annual Library Access Award - Rural Division from Maureen Wood, Provincial Librarian.

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