The province recently announced funding for over 90 public libraries throughout the province. A one-time funding of $500,000 dollars has been allocated to supplement the Provincial information and Library resources board’s core operating grant, for a total of over $12.8 million in provincial government funding for this fiscal year. This will support the board with costs for maintenance, operations and acquiring additional resources such as new hard copy and digital books.

An additional $100,000 will be provided to the board to support the expansion of the Newfoundland and Labrador Public Libraries’ early years programming to include digital literacy tools. Using digital technologies responsively with children over the age of three helps prepare them for the future and is important in achieving early literacy goals.