Ottawa Public Library Progress and Challenges

Read the 2018 Annual Report for the OPL and the Semi-Annual Performance Report for July - December 2018 and you'll be impressed with what's being achieved. The annual report contains many examples of positive initiatives and developments.

As a numbers person, I'm more impressed with overall performance — the OPL saw an eight percent increase in the number of active cardholders in 2018, compared to 2017.

Revenues and expenditures, now $52.5 million annually increased by about 3 percent. That's despite a 6 percent decrease in provincial support.

What I'm less happy with is lack of any performance benchmarking against other peer public libraries and there being no mention of the challenge of continuing sub-standard service in some areas of the city.