As a follow up to the Ministre de la Culture et des Communications’ Plan d’action sur le livre that was announced back in November, this is what I have been able to determine so far as to how school libraries can take part.
- The grant is being handled by the MCC which has yet to determine the parameters of their program. As it stands, school boards will be asked to make a formal request for book purchases up to a maximum of $50,000 per school board (though they may not be granted that full amount). A person responsible for the dossier in each school board will receive an email and a request form to fill in. The request will have to be sent out between January 22 and February 26, 2018. The school board will determine what amount each school will be receiving. The request will then go on to the Minister in May. The Minister will sign off on the funding for each board. Boards will be advised late June early July. The money will be available for the 2018-2019 school year and will most probably have to be spent before the end of March as that is the end of the financial year for the MCC (as opposed to the MEES which ends at the end of June).
- The Minister clearly intended the books to be purchased for the school libraries. This concept is a bit unclear to the MCC which is used to dealing with public libraries that use the funding in the way in which it was intended.
Suzanne Nesbitt
