The library-loving seniors and retirees who had police called on them when they tried to hold a "read in" over provincial cuts at MPP Sam Oosterhoff's office earlier this month were back Friday for a tailgate party in support of libraries.

Coolers stocked with six packs of books were set up and souvenir bookmarks passed around as a group of about 40 men and women set up lawn chairs in the plaza parking lot of the Niagara West MPP's Beamsville office.

Those gathered were jokingly reminded to behave themselves if police were called again — particularly those with canes.

"If police are coming and you have a stick, make sure you don't use it as a weapon," Suzette Taylor told the group who staged the event for an hour at noon in the King Street plaza. "Those are some big books too."

The group was protesting the province's 50 per cent funding cut to the Southern Ontario Library Service from $3.1 million to $1.5 million. As a result of the reduction, SOLS cancelled its inter-library loan program on April 26 which couriered books in trucks between 153 libraries in southern Ontario.

On Friday, around the same time the tailgate party was being held, SOLS and its Northern counterpart OLS-N released a joint statement announcing they are restoring inter-library loan services beginning on June 1.

They'll be doing it without the funding restored.

A press release said Canada Post will be used for deliveries. The organizations will provide "partial reimbursement" to local libraries for the postal delivery costs.

Oosterhoff was not at his Beamsville office Friday and was not available to speak with the Standard about the SOLS cuts.

He released a statement saying he was happy a resolution had been reached to restore the inter-library loan program.

"Following extensive consultation work, OLS-N and SOLS have identified opportunities to modernize and find efficiencies within their operations," he said. "None of the efficiencies affect front-line service to customers. Library users will continue to enjoy the same level of service as they have come to expect at their local libraries."

Oosterhoff said no additional funding has been provided and the budget remains the same as what was provided in the 2019 budget.

The province has said in the past that the SOLS delivery service was "inefficient," costly and environmentally unfriendly.

Attempts to reach SOLS were unsuccessful Friday. It is not known how much "partial reimbursement" local libraries will be getting, how much the Canada Post delivery service will cost the organization and what "efficiencies" were found.

It's also not known if SOLS will be restoring the service to the same capacity as it was previously.

In Niagara, more than 80,000 items were borrowed and loaned out last year using SOLS couriers.

The 12 library systems used SOLS to lend out and borrow books from libraries across the province. As well, the Libraries in Niagara Cooperative — made up of Fort Erie, Thorold, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Pelham, Lincoln and Niagara College libraries — used the service to transport books between their libraries because they share their collections and have an open catalogue.

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The sharing of resources was so important to Libraries in Niagara Cooperative that the group announced last week their librarians would try to continue the program by driving books in their own vehicles.

Many of the tailgate participants at Oosterhoff's office on Friday were passionate about libraries and were users of the inter-library loan system.

Among them were some members of the group of 15 seniors and retirees who tried to read books silently at Oosterhoff's office on May 7 but were told to leave. Police were called and the group left before officers arrived. The whole incident, which drew national attention, lasted eight minutes.

Elaine Anderson, who retired from the Pelham Public Library, was not part of that original group but organized the tailgate party Friday with Taylor to honour what they did and continue to raise awareness.

She lead the group Friday in a reading of the Canadian classic "The Cremation of Sam McGee."

Anderson said the book is not available at the Pelham Library but patrons used to be able to get it from the Welland Public Library through the inter-library loan program.

Karena.Walter@niagaradailies.com

905-225-1628 | @karena_standard

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