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Prince Albert pulls out of Wapiti Regional Library

The divorce between the Wapiti Regional Library and Prince Albert’s John M. Cuelenaere Public Library has been finalized. Prince Albert council voted to pass the third reading of a bylaw establishing a municipal library separate from Wapiti March 26.

The divorce between the Wapiti Regional Library and Prince Albert’s John M. Cuelenaere Public Library has been finalized.

Prince Albert council voted to pass the third reading of a bylaw establishing a municipal library separate from Wapiti March 26. Before that, there were only two independent municipal libraries in Saskatchewan: Regina, which has eight branches, and Saskatoon, which has nine.

“As far as Wapiti and the John M. Cuelenaere Public Library’s concerned, our two organizations basically separated on March 26 operationally and we’re doing our own thing,” said Tony Murphy, Wapiti’s regional director.

The provincial education ministry confirmed it has signed the order to separate the two libraries.

The separation process has been four years in the making. In the summer of 2016, the City of Prince Albert informed the residents within Wapiti’s boundaries it was separating and held public consultations. Humboldt, Tisdale, Melfort,

Nipawin and Hudson Bay, Wapiti’s largest libraries outside of Prince Albert, were among the many voices opposing the plan.

The province said it consented to the separation because the process to do so was followed properly.

“The City of Prince Albert followed the required steps to change boundaries, including public consultation,” wrote a government spokesperson in an email. “The board of Wapiti Regional Library and the City of Prince Albert both consented to the boundary changes, and continue to work together to make the transition as seamless as possible.”

With Prince Albert pulling out, the regional library stood to lose $156,000 in provincial grants as of 2016.

“Wapiti has been well-prepared for this shift for a couple of years now,” Murphy said. “We’ve had budgetary [measures] in place and operational changes were made to prepare for it. It’s not much of a transition for us.”