Getting by

It's taken far too long since popular demand forced the Regina Public Library to reconsider plans to close several branches, but the library finally has a plan to keep running in the longer term:

Board chair Darlene Hincks announced Wednesday the first step will be their first-ever home lottery set for next spring.

Hincks said the lottery could potentially bring in $500,000 annually toward the RPL's goal...

The plan for the new direction came after a widespread public campaign prevented the closing of three library branches as well as the Dunlop Art Gallery and the Prairie History Room.

A new board has since supplanted the board that recommended the closures and moved toward the fundraising and donations system.

It may not be the ideal way of keeping afloat; I have to wonder whether there's room to make much money off a new home lottery given how many are already in place, and it's certainly a less stable source of funding than the city should be. But at the very least there's now a plan to avoid cutting services...as long as Reginans are willing to vote with their donations as well as with their signatures and words.