Hobsons Bay council has agreed to consult the community after facing strong opposition to plans for a new library with no books at Newport.
The council plans to relocate the library to The Substation on April 18 while a new library is built in Mason Street.
Following the Weekly’s report about community opposition to a library based on ebooks and digital information, Hobsons Bay councillors last week voted unanimously to establish an advisory committee, including interested parties, to oversee the new library’s development.
Residents have started a Facebook page called Save Newport Library, which has about 320 members. They will hold their first meeting at 7pm tomorrow at Newport Lakes Primary School.
The page has prompted emotional stories from residents.
Former librarian Sarah Vincent said she met her husband through Hobsons Bay libraries and that when she suffered postnatal depression “there were many days when the only outing I could manage for our son was a trip to the library”. Lesley Sutherland posted that a Victorian public libraries review discussed at a February council meeting had found that: “The main reason people visit a library is to borrow a book.”
Altona Meadows mum Shelley Bernoth said she was joining the fight because a library without books was not a library.
“That’s not encouraging children to read,” she said.
“It’s taking the enjoyment out of it. The library’s there for the community – the elderly and the young people.
“Everyone I’ve spoken to wants to read the blurb, they want to actually feel the book, look at the text.
“They don’t want to order a book on the computer and wait however many days for it to be sent to their library.
“A community library should be about books and people and community.”
Strand ward’s Cr Paul Morgan likened a library with no books to a pub with no beer.
“A lot of this was decided by the officers rather than the council, so this is really one of the first opportunities to formally reject some of these plans,” he said.
