In these waning days of 2023, we know what you all need: Another end of the year list! It was another busy year in the news business here in Guelph, a lot of meetings, and issues, and debates, and announcements, and groundbreakings… How do you make sense of it all? With a Top 10 list! So let’s look at the year in Guelph from great progress to big protests, and all the issues that we mulled over, and will likely mull over some more in 2024. Continue reading “Top 10 Guelph News Stories of 2023”
In this final Guelph Public Library Board of Directors meeting of the year [shocked emoji face], we learned a lot about the planned fundraising efforts for the new main library and that project so far is looking pretty good! A special guest outlined the plans plus how and when all us regular folk might be able to join in the efforts. Also, the board looked ahead to all the other work that has to be done come the new year as we count down to the library’s opening. Here’s the recap… Continue reading “RECAP: Library Board Lays Out Its Fundraising Plans”
The last Guelph Public Library Board of Directors meeting of the year will look to the future, short and long-term. As 2023 comes to an end, the year that ground was finally broken on the new main library, the board will look at how they’re going to help fundraise for it. That’s the long-term, but the short-term talk will focus on setting the table for 2024 and what the staff and board hope to focus on in the new year. Continue reading “MEETING PREVIEW: Guelph Public Library Board for November 27, 2023”
The Devil’s night was in the details at the monthly meeting of the Guelph Public Library Board of Directors on Monday evening, and many of the details were behind the closed doors of the in-camera portion of that meeting. What was discussed in their closed session involved a report about the library as a safe space and the future self-evaluation of the board. For everything else, there’s the recap… Continue reading “RECAP: Library Board Spends Most of It’s Meeting In-Camera”
It’s Devils Night, and this year the Devil’s business seems to involve the monthly board of directors meeting of the Guelph Public Library. Nothing particularly evil, or diabolical, is on the agenda though, just the usual business of running the local library system including budgets, the state of services and usage, plus the ongoing developments of the new library project. Plus, what issues are top of mind for library advocacy? Continue reading “MEETING PREVIEW: Guelph Public Library Board for October 30, 2023”
The Guelph Public Library Board took the summer off and slid right into the serious business of budgeting Monday night. As you will see below, the library became the first board and shared service to pass their 2024 budget, and that means city council will be handed a request for a 8.77 per cent increase for next year. What does that mean and why the big bump? You will find out be scanning the recap… Continue reading “RECAP: Library Board Approves Big Boost to the Budget for 2024”
As usual, the month wraps up with a meeting of the Guelph Public Library Board. Since the board last met in mid-June ground was broken on the new main library building on Baker Street so it will be interested to get that update this month after a summer off. Also, we will look ahead to the more immediate concerns of next year’s library budget, both operating and capital, and we will also get the usual reports. Here’s what is coming up for September’s meeting. Continue reading “MEETING PREVIEW: Guelph Public Library Board for September 25, 2023”
It’s one week till the Big Book Sale, the annual event that the Friends of the Guelph Public Library was created to administer over 15 years ago. It was a fundraising project launched to show that Guelph had an appetite for a new main library building, and after years of banking all the funds raised, the endgame is finally in sight nearly 20 years later. So what happens when the Friends have achieved their goal? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #388 – Book Sale: The Next Chapter”
This year, Guelph Public Library CEO Steve Kraft is celebrating 40 years as a dedicated employee of the Guelph Library, rising through the proverbial ranks – or is that stacks – from the counter in the children’s library to the chief executive’s office. As Kraft’s library career in Guelph turns 40, the system he runs is turning 150, and as the Guelph Public Library marks its sesquicentennial in 2023 it’s in the middle of very big transitional period. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #387 – Trade Kraft”
If it was hard for the Guelph Public Library Board of Directors to get through their meeting on Monday night, it would have surely been because they were almost 12 hours away from the groundbreaking for the new library building (and the rest of the Baker District Redevelopment). The business was done just the same though as the board looked at the mid-year report, reviewed the 2022 financials, and more. Continue reading “RECAP: Library Board Takes Care of Business Before Groundbreaking”
Guelph Politico 