Facing budget constraints, the Marathon Public Library is no longer open on Saturdays
Town council voted against increasing library's budget for 2025
The Marathon Public Library is now closed on Saturdays due to financial hardships, which the library board's chair says is a sign of more cutbacks to come.
The change, which came into effect last week, means the facility is now open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.
"The library is pretty much the only place where you can go and hang out, where your existence there doesn't need to be justified by spending money," said Hannah Demers, chair of the Marathon Public Library Board.
"If we're not able to keep our expanded hours, then there are people who work during the week … who can't make it."
About 3,100 people live in Marathon, a town roughly 300 kilometres east of Thunder Bay. The library has more than 750 active members, said Demers.
The facility saw an increase of more than 3,000 visits between 2023 and 2024, and nearly 11,000 loans of physical and digital materials during this time, she said.
The Marathon Public Library requested an additional $44,000 in the 2025 municipal budget, with hopes of using the funds to upgrade its computers and purchase iPads for children who don't have devices at home.
While budget deliberations continue, council has voted to maintain the library's existing budget of $170,000.
Future cutbacks, fundraising challenges
Daryl Skworchinski, the town's chief administrative officer, said the municipality supports the library in a number of ways.
"We don't charge rent for that facility. We also look after snow plowing. We also look after cleaning up the washrooms," he said. "The $170,000 isn't a true representation of the actual donation that's given to the library."
While Demers said the library was hopeful, "we knew what we'd asked for was not likely to be the reality, but you also don't get what you don't ask for."
The library offers physical and digital materials, a maker space with a 3D printer, a digitization space, access to computers and public WiFi, and programming for people of all ages.
Holy Saviour School no longer has a library of its own, so students walk to the public library with their class once a week.
There is only so much the library can cut back on, said Demers, "so now, we're looking into things that we can actually cut from — and that is unfortunately what makes the library a library."
That means potential cuts to programming and the library's digital online platforms, for example.
While the facility runs a number of fundraisers, from hosting trivia nights to selling greeting cards and cookie cutters, it's difficult to compete with larger initiatives, like the Thunder Bay Regional Hospital's 50/50 draw, Demers said.
"The library is not able to obtain a lottery license, so we are not able to run those big fundraising options," she said.
Hopes for population growth
As for the municipality, Skworchinski said, it's been a challenging budget year.
While the town is sitting at a 6.5 per cent tax levy increase over last year, council's goal is to trim that down to between 4.5 and 5 per cent, he said. The 2025 budget is expected to be approved in April.
There are a number of factors at play, from the $75 million active living centre that's going to tender this year, to higher energy costs, and provincial and federal transfer payments that "are not really keeping pace with inflation and the rise of certain costs," said Skworchinski.
However, with incoming developments such as the proposed Marathon Palladium Project 10 kilometres north of town, Skworchinski said there's hope that Marathon will see a big population boost in the coming years.
"The challenge is managing the budgets in the short term, knowing that we have these long-term investments that are going to pay off," he said.
In the meantime, Demers said it's important for communities to support their public libraries now more than ever.
"Libraries are a source of any and all information about almost any topic you can think of. If you don't know where to find it, the librarians will help you find it," said Demers.
"Especially in times like this, it's important that we all learn how to find good reliable information."
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