Library Cull?
21/04/2010 12:04:00 p.m.
Kingston resident Marie Russell is worried Wellington suburbs could lose their libraries.
After reading Wellington City Council’s 2010 Draft Community Facilities Policy and Implementation Plan, Marie Russell became concerned.
Reading between the lines, Russell says libraries in areas such as Wadestown, Brooklyn, Island Bay and Khandallah, may be in for the chop.
“I’ve got strong concerns because of the way it’s framed,” she says.
The plan outlines future spending priorities and gives lowest priority to future or existing libraries in areas that have a small population and are within three kilometres of large libraries in “sub-regional centres” and “town centres”.
The sub-regional areas are identified as Central City, Johnsonville and Kilbirnie, while the town centres are Karori, Miramar, Newtown and Tawa.
The smaller “district centres” are places such as Brooklyn and Kelburn, while the smallest “neighbourhood centres” include Wadestown and Mount Cook.
“I want some assurances from the council, and I want them to spell it out in plain English,” says Russell. “We have wonderful facilities in our communities, but the council does very little to promote them. With more money put into promotion, we would see use go up hugely.”
Russell also points out that if suburban libraries were to close, nearby businesses would suffer, as people often combine a trip to the library with shopping.
Councillor Ngaire Best says Russell has read too much into the plan.
“While [Russell’s] right that the table has some gaps, it wasn’t designed to be an indicator we’d be closing existing libraries,” she says.
It is meant to show the council would have no spending priorities for the smaller libraries, Best says.
The plan includes a section “terminating partnerships and disposal of assets”, which has a set of five criteria that need to be met before a library is chopped. Best says none of the current small libraries meet all of those criteria.
Both Best and Russell recommend people read the document and make a submission before May 10 at http://www.wellington.govt.nz/haveyoursay/publicinput/community-facilities.html.
