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V _ d 2 In 1996 the Board purchased a computer so cataloguing could be done and included in the province wide interlibrary loan system. Shortly after this, a Trillium grant was received to put a public internet computer in the branch. Approximately three weeks after, the Town Hall was broken into and parts of the computer were stolen along with the fine money. Many years ago the library service had money for an outreach programme for communities in rural areas to hold programming i.e. plays, singers, authors, etc. Shirley Palmer, the previous librarian, arranged for puppet shows to be held during story hour. Arrangements were made with the principal of the Castleton Public School so students could View the programmes. One year, it was raining really hard, so the principal arranged with Orville Issac to bring the students by bus to the Town Hall at no cost. These programmes were free of charge to the library boards. When Mike Harris was Ontario Premier, drastic cuts to the Ministry of Culture grants were made and a large number of SOLS programming and services were cut. At one time, the school board was applying for a grant to add a gym to the school and the library board was asked to join this project so a new public library could be added. The project did not go forward. Sue Solomon, one of the teachers at Castleton Public School, along with a couple of other teachers, brought their students for library service for many years, as scheduling and curriculum would allow. Approximately four years ago, I took the students on a walking tour around the village and pointed out the historical buildings and what they were used for. Around 1991, the Provincial Pay Equity legislation was approved. At this time the Ministry of Culture provided library boards with money to go towards payroll for pay equity. A formula is in place on how this is used and if there are unused funds, it must be returned to the Ministry. Funding is still being received to this day. As we had no male comparators on the board, the pay equity plan was done around 1993 when the legislation was changed to allow boards to compare with other companies. At this time Cramahe municipal staff were used as comparators.