THAT the Library Board seek Newmarket Council’s endorsement of a draft resolution outlined
in Attachment 1, requesting the Town of Newmarket to:
a. indicate their support for CULC’s/CBUC’s efforts to increase access to ebooks and other
econtent for library users in Newmarket and across Canada
b. call on the federal government to investigate the barriers faced by libraries in
acquiring ebooks and other econtent and the problems that poses for vulnerable
demographic groups in Canada; and
c. ask the federal government to develop a solution that increases access to ebooks and
other econtent across Canada and assists libraries in meeting the cost requirements to
acquire ebooks and other econtent.
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Appendix 1: Draft Resolution for Newmarket Council
WHEREAS, the Town of Newmarket recognizes the important role that libraries play in our
community. Libraries and the early literacy programs that they run are integral to developing
proficient readers and ensuring that children succeed in school. More and more, digital literacy
programs run by libraries also help ensure that citizens can contribute to our digital world.
Additionally, vulnerable demographic groups, including seniors, low income families, youth, and
new Canadians rely on access to libraries as an important tool for their participation in the
community – from education to searching for jobs to consuming Canadian cultural materials,
and
WHEREAS, libraries in our community recognize that our users increasingly seek to access ebooks and other e-content offered by multinational publishers, and that access to those
publications is too often curtailed by prohibitively high licensing fees or else entirely denied to
Canadian libraries, and
WHEREAS, libraries must be in a position to offer e-books and other e-content to their users as
part of their service offering to our community, particularly given the contemporary rapid pace
of digitization of educational and cultural materials.
Now, therefore be it resolved that the Town of Newmarket does hereby:
1. Indicate our support for the Canadian Urban Libraries Council in its efforts to increase
access to ebooks and other econtent for library users in Newmarket and across Canada;
2. Call on the federal government to investigate the barriers faced by libraries in acquiring
ebooks and other econtent and the problems that poses for vulnerable demographic
groups in Canada; and
3. Further ask the federal government to develop a solution that increases access to
ebooks and other econtent across Canada and assists libraries in meeting the cost
requirements to acquire e-books and other e-content.