Representatives from a number of Manitoba libraries met with Fort Richmond MLA Sarah Guillemard in Steinbach on Friday as part of a provincial library systems review.

Guillemard says they will be meeting with all public libraries in Manitoba to get a picture of how the libraries are run and get feedback.

"Minister Squires, who is the Minster of Sport, Culture, and Heritage, back in November notified all libraries and administrators, that we would be conducting a review to get a report card on how libraries are run, some of the obstacles their facing and maybe get feedback about what they would come up with for changing our regulations or legislation."

Guillemard says the province is looking for possible changes that create efficiency as well as ways to make the system more user-friendly for the public.

Aubrey Walker is the Assistant Librarian at the Jake Epp Library, which is where the meeting was held. She says the structure of library funding was a popular topic of discussion.

"A thing that comes up, again and again, is a funding system that is representative of where our needs are. That came up quite a lot, but we discussed different programs and other forms of support that we could see and a lot of our discussions centered around ways to make our library accessible, to have the correct resources and the correct space that meet the needs of our community.”

Walker says it is great to have the opportunity to give input on the provincial level. She notes a highlight of the meeting was discussing ideas with representatives from other libraries.

"It was definitely a positive day. It is great to connect with other libraries and sort of brainstorm and see what they are doing. It is always interesting. You come away with about a million new ideas every time you talk to somebody from a different environment."

Guillemard says it is too early on in the process to talk about themes that are emerging from the review process, but the final findings will be provided to the library systems themselves sometime in summer or early fall.