Bright books

By Lilly O’Gorman and Lia Bichel
THE future is looking bright for the new Pakenham Library.
In the last month, the number of books being borrowed reached unprecedented numbers, never seen before at the local branch.
The huge borrowing boost follows the State Government’s decision not to cut library funding to Victorian Libraries – the Baillieu Government instead announcing a $6.5 million package for libraries across the state.
Cardinia Branch co-ordinator Melissa Martin said the recent figures were “massive” and very encouraging.
“We have never seen anything like that before. We knew it was busy, but we were surprised at just how busy it was,” Ms Martin said.
The number of loans and renewals jumped from 26,000 last month to a huge 47,000 and people through the door doubled jumping from an average 10,000-12,000 a month to more than 23,000 visitors.
Ms Martin said the new location and opening hours were probably having an effect.
“It’s just been a fantastic take-up of library services,” she said.
“People who weren’t sure of where we were have found the building and we were really busy during the school holidays getting up to 1000 people through a day which was amazing.
“It is very encouraging.”
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Casey-Cardinia Library Corporation Peter Carter is also optimistic for the future of our local libraries.
In June, Mr Carter said the board had prepared their budget before being told about the proposed funding cuts, leaving them with a $66,000 void to fill.
Mr Carter said he hoped the recent $6.5 million funding announcement would benefit local libraries and he looked forward to working with the State Government to achieve a favourable outcome.
“I think it’s a positive outcome in terms of the State Government listening to the local government, and we are happy to work with them on what is proposed and see how it pans out. Hopefully we can achieve a sustainable outcome for the long-term,” Mr Carter said.
“It’s always best to be optimistic.”
Friends of Emerald Library Book group co-ordinator Dot Radings was delighted to hear that funding had been restored.
“That’s excellent news, the libraries needs all the funding they can get,” she said.
“It’s not only books these days, but audio-visual facilities, and school services, as well as many other areas.”
Ms Radings said funding must be maintained at reasonable levels to ensure library buildings, collections and services were kept at an acceptable level.
“I think people have worked hard to get their local libraries going and it would be sad to see them fall into disrepair,” she said.
“It’s a bit like parks funding, which gets cuts again and again.”