Grey Lynn Library under threat

Last week the Mayor announced he was considering the closure of the Grey Lynn Library.

This has brought concern to residents and to library staff over the future of the Grey Lynn Library.

On Wednesday I visited the staff at the Grey Lynn Library, with Geoff Hautman from the Western Bays Community Group, to give them re-assurance that from local board discussions there was no intent of closing the library. That our key priority is to maintain library services during transition as outlined in our local board plan.

Since 1993, this is the third time council has considered closing the Grey Lynn Library. Every past attempt has faced strong public opposition. As Bernard Orsman from the Herald wrote on his facebook site “Rule No. 1 in local government. Do not close libraries. Rule No. 2. If you do, start sprucing up your CV. “

The council’s finance team has requested a 3% cost saving across all council groups. This blanket approach suggests that all council services are perceived equel and that there is juice in the lemon that’s worth squeezing. But when you look at operating and capital expenses across the council and its council controlled organisations they are certainly not equal or should be treated that way.

Aucklanders place huge value in our library network and this is reflected in the annual customer satisfaction score of 92%. Our Grey Lynn Library received the highest rating in the network with 95%.

In the last year, visitors to the Grey Lynn Library has increased by 6% to over 100,000 people walking through the doors. A key strength of the library is the community outreach program for learning and skills which has seen a 60% increase in demand in the last year. Successful events like Samoan Language Week and Matariki Festival bringing learning programs into our community. A recent wriggle and rhyme session was attended by over 100 families in our community. With the growing demand for library services, all libraries within our ward are already overused according to the New Zealand national library standards for floor usage per visitor.

Government Ministries have started to cotton-on to the significant impact that libraries have in our community, using some of the libraries to provide free dental checks for children at story time.

Look into the near future and watch as our city’s inner-city population grows. How are we going to manage the growing demand of library services?

The Central Library will always be the regional and local hub for our inner- city population but as communities start to pop-up across the city we will have to provide further opportunities to access collections at a lower cost to ratepayers. The library service has undertaken pin-point map studies that have identified a service gap in the Eden Terrace Area (Upper Symonds Street) where there was once a library (Gailbraths Bar & Restaurant). And there are further opportunities to provide access to the collection at transport hubs like Britomart.

I meet with the library management team last week to discuss how we can manage growth of services throughout the inner-city while keeping the cost down. One option that is being explored is 24 hour library book kiosk. There will be a second meeting in early November, once an environmental scan is completed, but the initial thoughts are to undertake a trial. This is very much work in progress but you can read more on my website http://www.robthomas.co.nz/24-hour-self-service-library-kiosk-a-possibility-with-rfid