August 27, 2004

North Shore City residents love library service

North Shore City Council libraries continue to receive an overwhelming level of community approval.

The council's latest survey showed that 93 per cent of residents were happy with the services offered and a record 55 per cent of residents reported they were very satisfied with the libraries.

The chairperson of North Shore City's community services and parks committee, Margaret Miles, says the approval rating reflected the priority given to the library service by council.

"We have always valued our libraries as an important community resource and invested well in them, with eight cents in every rate dollar funding this popular service.

"Our focus is on making it as easy as possible for residents to use our services. I am delighted to see that the demand for our libraries is strong among people of all ages. These are true lifelong learning centres," Councillor Miles says.

"In the past 12 months residents have benefited from an enhanced mobile library service, a new library in Albany Village and a revamped website enabling them to access more services online.

"Our seven libraries are open seven days a week, and our hard-working library staff offer a very high level of service to members," she says.

In the past financial year (2003-04) the council spent $11.9m on library services.

North Shore City's library services manager, Geoff Chamberlain, says the several new services instigated over the past 12 months had made the libraries accessible to many more people.

The new mobile library service was launched in July last year with 14 additional stops, while the Albany library opened in May this year, and gained more than 400 new members in its first three weeks. Work begins early next year on a new larger library in Birkenhead.

Last year 58,000 new books were added to the library's collection, as were further databases and periodicals.

"We also run plenty of events and activities at our libraries such as our popular pre-school lapsit sessions, school holiday activities, Mandarin and Afrikaans language programmes, and author events," Mr Chamberlain says.

ENDS

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