Saskatoon Public Library laying off employees

The Saskatoon Public Library (SPL) has issued layoff notices to staff as part of efforts to address funding concerns..
 
An email sent to employees from SPL director Carol Cooley was obtained by 650 CKOM late Tuesday.
 
In the note, Cooley wrote that the equivalent of 14 full-time positions were being eliminated. She didn’t specify exactly many employees would be let go.
 
“I encourage you to provide friendship and support if you have a colleague who has been negatively impacted by this change,” Cooley wrote.
 
Cooley declined to specify in the email exactly which employees or positions were being cut, citing privacy concerns for the people affected.
 
Saskatoon’s libraries lost their $800,000 operating grant in March’s provincial government. But that money was later restored when the province backtracked on cuts to the province’s libraries amid concerns about the proposed elimination of the inter-library loan program.
 
However, the SPL also faces funding pressure from the city, which has its own shortfall to deal with after losing millions of dollars worth of provincial grants that were also cut in the budget.