The Jake Epp Public Library in Steinbach will see an increase in its provincial grant next year as a result of the new census numbers released earlier this month. The population of Steinbach grew by 2,305 people between 2011 and 2016. Troy Warkentin, the city's Chief Administrative Officer, says the province bases its annual library grant on the census.

"It is some good news in that there is a provincial grant, the Rural Library Operating Grant, that is offered to rural libraries across Manitoba every year. It's per capita-based so the increase in population will reflect in extra dollars for the library in the future. The grant program is based at $8.50 per capita. Based on the census numbers confirmed for Steinbach, it should result in at least an additional $20,000 per year for the library."

Head Librarian Carolyn Graham says the additional money is needed since the library has not seen a funding increase in a few years.

"For the last couple of years, when dealing with the same budget for our acquisitions, our acquisitions have really taken a bit of a hit with the cost of books, and particularly audio books, skyrocketing over the last three years. We will be very glad to have some of that influx put back into our acquisitions budget so we can purchase more items that the public wants."

Furthermore, Graham says the money will help also help with staff costs and maintaining other services provided by the library.

"Our staff is very gracious, they love their work, but it is important that from time-to-time they get the same increases that other people do. So maintaining our hours and our services, even our programming, it (the grant increase) will definitely have a place to go to continue all these things."

The City of Steinbach is the main funder of the library. Based on the new census numbers, showing a population of 15,829, it provides an annual grant in the range of $21 per capita.The library has an annual budget of about $550,000.