65 PEOPLE turned up to a public meeting held in the North Arm Cove Community Centre on March 23, to discuss the provision of Library Services to North Arm Cove.
The following factors have been the catalysts for the review:
z Declining levels of usage of the North Arm Cove Service Point
z The financial commitment of providing such a small service
z Availability of access to community transport to Tea Gardens and
z Usage of the Tea Gardens Branch Library by North Arm Cove residents
Great Lakes Council's Manager of Library Services, Chris Jones, was present at the March 23 meeting, along with Councillor's Gill, Vaughan, Lawry and Roberts, who are all members of the Great Lakes Council Library Committee.
Chair of the Great Lakes Council Library Committee, Councillor Gill, chaired the meeting.
Great Lakes Library Service sent out 400 surveys in the mail throughout February, giving North Arm Cove residents an opportunity to have input into the future provision of library services to their area.
"The whole purpose of both the community survey and community consultation is to get the feedback necessary to make decisions regarding the library," explained Chris Jones.
By the March 6 deadline, 83 surveys were returned to council.
"The general feeling we got from the survey's in a broad sense was, 'just keep the library service as it is.'
"A number said the Tea Gardens library service is irrelevant to them, though our statistics indicate there is steady usage made of the Tea Gardens Library by Cove residents. A third of all loans to Cove residents now occur at Tea Gardens - a fourfold increase over the past five years," said Mr Jones.
He explained that another concern highlighted in the responses was the potential danger involved in the trip to Tea Gardens.
"Many residents (all ages) are concerned about the dangers of negotiating four entry and exits to and from the Pacific Highway on each trip to the library. And with the dual carriageway imminent and no overpass, it will be even worse," said North Arm Cove Library Coordinator, Elizabeth Hillman.
Mr Jones stated that the main reason people gave that they were ‘for' the library was that "they deserved it because of the rates that Cove residents paid", or words to that effect.
"There were also some suggestions for other material the library could hold," said Mr Jones.
North Arm Cove Library Coordinator, Elizabeth Hillman, has worked at the library for the past five years and said it would be very sad to see it go.
Alternative ideas to closure that were put forward at the meeting were:
z To relocate the library collection and service to the North Arm Cove Community Hall
z Extend the opening hours
z Leave it how it is
Mr Jones assured that closure was only one of the options council would be looking at.
The role of the library as a social interaction point also came up at the meeting.
"People here love their library, they don't just use it to borrow books, they come to read the council minutes, the library notice board which informs on local issues and events in the area, and they also come to sit and browse through books and magazines," explained Ms Hillman.
Transportation issues were also discussed.
Mr Jones said there is potential for Community Transport to run a specific library run every alternate Wednesday (opposite to the Neighbour Aid run), and home delivery could be incorporated into this service too, but these ideas are really contingent on what council decides to do regarding the library.
"The last thing I would want to happen would be isolation of people in the Cove who had transportation issues," said Mr Jones.
He explained that this was a review on the library service; the point was to get some feedback from the community.
"Nothing has been decided on yet, but council is now at a point where they can start to look at all the community consultation.
"The Library Committee will be holding an informal meeting sometime in April and there will be further discussions in council with some decisions in the following months," explained Mr Jones.
He added that council has gone to considerable lengths to gather community input, with the letter, survey and public meeting.
"We have been remarkably open and consultative, and we have given the North Arm Cove community their chance to have a say," he concluded.
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