'Just devastated' by library closures, say rural residents

No more library books, programs, or free internet and computeraccess for people in 54 small communities in Newfoundland and Labrador has leftsome saying government is taking away a service they depend on.

• More than half of N.L. libraries closing in wake of budget cuts
• Library closures will hit children, rural areas hardest, says association

"We were just devastated by the news," Christine Dwyer toldthe Central Morning Showon Friday.

Dwyer has been on the Fogo Island library board for 39 years, and said libraries are the "cultural foundation of Newfoundland," even if many are open less than 20hours a week.

She said it will take people on Fogo and Change Islands hours to access the closest library left after the cuts. Closing it will save one small salary about$15,000 a year.

Dwyer said people rely on the Fogo library forcomputer access and there's a social aspect as well,with more than 1,000 registered users out of a population of about 2,500.

"They're just eradicating the rural Newfoundland," said Dwyer.

Growing concerns about illiteracy

In Port au Port, a single mother and small business operator said this budget, with its planned book tax, already impacts her ability to buy her daughter books.

"We might not live in a big city or a town with many thousands of people, but does that mean that we have any less worth than the rest?" saidCheryl Bennett.

Bennett said the Port au Port library is housed in the school and used daily by children.

"If you don't have reading, what chance do they have in school?" she asked.

Loss in Labrador

Dwight Lethbridge, the mayor of Cartwright, told the Labrador Morning Showthat people in his town can't drive to another library.

He doubts whether the town can take it over.

"This cut [affects] the lowest income and disadvantaged the most," he wrote in a Facebook post."Pretty soon, we are not going to have any services left."

Lethbridge saidhe supports a lot of the cuts, but the government is going about it the wrong way.