Investment in public libraries is investment in community. Libraries are key social and economic infrastructure, and they’re one of the best investments governments are already making—facilitating personal, economic and community development.
Provincial Funding Frozen since 2009
Public Libraries are funded through a combination of local and provincial monies. Since a 25% cut in 2009, provincial funding has been largely frozen at $14M. During that time, costs have skyrocketed, the population has grown, and complex service demands have increased.
Libraries have gratefully received additional one-time provincial funding in recent years, but one-time funding does not support the ongoing services communities need from their public libraries. The lack of adequate sustained provincial funding is undermining public libraries’ capacity to meet the needs of their communities.
BC’s Public Libraries in 2025
- 71 public library systems with 257 service points
- 2 million people with library cards
- 71.4 million visitors (in-person and virtual)
- 38.9 million items borrowed
- 2.3 million public computer sessions
- 1.8 million people attended 79,000 programs
Which Political Parties Support Increased Funding for Public Libraries?
The BC Public Library Partners provided the provincial political parties with the information above and asked:
“Does your party support increasing the annual provincial funding for public libraries?”
- BC New Democrat Party support increasing the annual provincial funding for public libraries. They have committed to double provincial funding for B.C.’s public libraries, from $14 million to $28 million a year (Oct 7 Media Release: BC NDP to double funding for public libraries) .
- BC Green Party support increasing the annual provincial funding for public libraries. They have committed to increasing the provincial funding level from $14 million to $30 million per year (BC Greens Platform, page 72).
- CentreBC support increasing the annual provincial funding for public libraries. They told us via email that they “will move libraries off one-time grants toward stable, multi-year funding that keeps pace with costs. Our platform is fully costed, so we’ll set the amount in our first budget, working with the library sector.”
- Conservative Party of BC did not respond.
- OneBC did not respond.