Fraser Valley Regional Libraries will be open in the coming weeks.
That’s something we take for granted, but it’s not a given. Most recently, a proposed lockout by FVRL was averted at the last minute, and CUPE members have now tentatively accepted a new contract.
That’s good for the many book lovers in the Lower Mainland, especially with spring break almost upon us. Because FVRL is the go-to for free books and resources for a huge number of people in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.
You would think that Vancouver Public Library is the biggest library in B.C., right? After all, FVRL’s libraries are often fairly small, compared to the towering Colosseum-inspired main branch of the VPL.
But it’s the FVRL that serves more people. More than 928,000 residents from Delta and White Rock, through Langley, Abbotsford, Maple Ridge, Mission, and as far east as tiny Boston Bar rely on FVRL branches to deliver mysteries, biographies, graphic novels, children’s picture books, magazines, and ebooks of all kinds.
Not to mention the DVDs, telescopes, robots, ukuleles, and radon detectors you can check out. Not bad for a library that began as a book bus that toured small farming communities back in the first half of the 20th century.
FVRL does all its work on a comparative shoestring budget. The member cities of the FVRL provide library space, either rented or owned, to host its branches. Beyond that, its total budget was $33.8 million in 2024, according to the most recent completed annual report.
Vancouver Public Library’s annual budget for the same year was about $64 million – almost twice as much, to serve a population of around 757,000.
A key comparison – VPL spent $2.6 million on books and other materials, FVRL was only able to spend $865,000.
It doesn’t help that the FVRL takes in a shockingly small amount of donations – it was just $88,000 in 2024. Meanwhile, the VPL took in $545,000 in donations in the same year.
So our library service does more with less, pulling together provincial and municipal funds to supply an excellent service.
But if it had more, it could do more.
This is an election year, and libraries ought to be on the ballot for our local mayor and council candidates.
The Fraser Valley hasn’t been a rural, thinly-populated area for a long time. FVRL may serve some small communities, but most of its branches are in dense and fast-growing communities that are major parts of the greater Vancouver area.
FVRL branches are lifelines for seniors, families, and book lovers of all ages.
It’s time our communities noticed both how good the library already is, and started considering how much better it could become.