Letter re: Grant Request - View Royal Reading Centre
A letter from the manager of the Reading Centre explaining the need for increased funding due to lease renewals and software costs.
February 28, 2021
Dear Mayor Screech and Council:
Many thanks for your support over the years, both financial and moral.
I am writing to explain in finer detail the reasons for our request for more money this year:
In July of 2020, our lease was up for renewal. The landlord would only agree to renew it if we agreed to five years, with a rent increase every year. Our rent in 2020 was $1,548.75 per month, including GST, and now it is $1,732.50, projected to rise to $1,837.50 in October. This is an increase of $2,600 for this year.
In October, the company that owns the library software we were using discontinued it and its support. The program stopped working and, in fact, was completely inaccessible. We lost our whole inventory and patron information. I spent months searching for a new program and have found one that is much better than the original, and it is fully supported. Unfortunately, the package is $3,500. It is the cheapest I could find, but the silver lining is that our catalogue is now online! I have spent the past two months scanning all our books into the inventory (11,000 in all) and am putting in extra hours to get it finished.
Due to Covid19, our patronage was down considerably over the summer (we were closed for two months) but it is now rebounding and we are starting to see our regulars come back (with masks on!) Our volunteers are dedicated to keeping us going, despite these setbacks and I hope to see more engagement with the View Royal Reading Centre in the near future.
Again, we are all grateful for your assistance and I sincerely hope you will be able to help us out some more.
Sincerely,
Christine Jackman (Manager)
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