Help Us Support Our Communities, No Strings Attached!

Five (5) of our seven (7) locations will have a reduction in hours if funding is not secured. Those five (5) locations are: Amherst, Oxford, Parrsboro, Pugwash, and Springhill.

Our River Hebert and Advocate locations are currently open only twenty (20) hours a week. Decreasing their hours would mean a significant loss of resources to those communities, and would have a drastic impact on the livelihoods of our part-time staff.

The costs of reducing library hours are far-reaching, and the impact on each person depends on their situation. For most, this means decreasing the number of hours to access the internet, attend programs, research resources, and have a clean and welcoming place to escape the weather. 

Reducing library hours negatively impacts the most vulnerable people within our community. 

We have already made cuts to programming, book purchasing, staffing, and more to balance our budget. At this point our only options (without receiving more funding) are to cut hours, cut more services, or close a library.

We could charge for services, however, the Cumberland Public Libraries, and all public libraries throughout the province, have worked very hard to ensure that library services are free and accessible to all.

We previously charged patrons late fees, but have removed this barrier as of August 2020. Late fines amounted to approximately 1% of our yearly revenue. Because of this, it is our view that charging for our services would not be a helpful solution.

A fee to use library services or programs would greatly limit library access for many people in our community.

Donations are always welcome! We’re also working hard to create engaging new fundraisers. However, our current deficit is $179k, and asking our patrons and communities to take on that burden each year is not our goal. The only way to have reliable funding of that size is to work in partnership with our government.

Continue to use your public library! Talk to people about the other services we offer, including internet access, faxing, work spaces, and shelter on rainy days. Follow our social media pages and share our posts with friends and family.

If you are able to make a donation, we greatly appreciate it! You can also email your MLA to tell them libraries are important to you, and thank them for their efforts. We need long-term sustainable funding for all public libraries in Nova Scotia.

Our provincial representatives are working hard to advocate for us! We greatly appreciate the support we’ve received from them as they champion our push for additional funding.

If you want to email your MLA to show your support of the library, and their efforts, we can help. Here’s an email template to get you started.

All public libraries in Nova Scotia are overseen by the Department of Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage. The current Minister of Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage is Allan MacMaster. You can contact the Minister at:

1741 Brunswick St., 3rd Floor
P.O. Box 456, STN Central
Halifax, NS
B3J 2R5
Phone: (902)-424-4889
Email: MIN_CCTH@novascotia.ca

Do you live in Pugwash or Amherst? Your MLA is Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin. Contact Elizabeth at:

5 Ratchford St., 2nd Floor
Amherst, NS
B4H 1X2
Phone: (902)-661-2288
Email: mla@esmithmccrossinmla.com

Do you live in River Hebert, Advocate Harbour, Parrsboro, Springhill, or Oxford? Your MLA is Tory Rushton. Contact Tory at:

6 McFarlane St (PO Box 250)
Springhill, NS
B0M 1X0
Phone: (902)-597-4039
Email: toryrushtonmla@bellaliant.com