Hinterland residents are being urged to help to lend their voice to a campaign to save a local library from potentially being reduced to “a book vending machine”.
As part of council’s community consultation on the future of the Kenilworth Library an active online survey has been launched, asking residents about engagement, usage, and to rank potential options for its future.
Cambroon resident and library member Christopher Lee said, “Council needs to go back to the drawing board” when it came to determining the library’s future.
“The library being downsized, or closing would mean a significate blow to the entire extended community.
“It’s yet another reduction in services for a small community with already limited services.
“The last thing we want them to do is to take the library.”
A Sunshine Coast Council spokesperson told Sunshine Coast News it was committed to continued investment in libraries and to fostering their positive influence on their communities.
“Council has not proposed closing the Kenilworth Library – which is a council owned building – but is seeking to understand how the facility can best meet the needs of the community,” the spokesperson explained.
But Mr Lee said council denying they would close the library was “a little bit disingenuous and cheeky.”
“They give you four options that they want you to rank, none of them include keeping the library as it is,” he said.
SCN asked council if the survey option of combining the existing library with other council services meant council expanding the current library, but council did not respond.
Mr Lee said the community should have been consulted on the survey options.
“The community consultation is essentially about which of those completely unsatisfactory options we prefer, not about keeping the library exactly as it is, or even expanding it, given that Kenilworth and the region are growing,” he said.
“That’s not good community consultation.”
Community members can have their say by completing the survey by November 5.
The survey provides the opportunity for comment by participants are able to provide additional options.
“If you use or care about Kenilworth Library, complete the survey and ask them politely to keep their hands off our library,” Mr Lee said.
“Make sure you put in your own comments about not being satisfied with the survey options.”
The current Kenilworth Library is identified as local level library, which “is subject to operational considerations”.
The Council spokesperson said the purpose of the feedback was to understand which model of service the community regards as best responding to their needs, including but not limited to:
- Library lounge – a combination of staffed and unstaffed opening hours
- Book vending – easy 24/7 access to wi-fi, popular books, reservations and returns
- Community Library – a small library service that shares the space with another council department, local business or art organisation
- Book Stops – a small collection within a community centre, business, or general store.
The Council spokesperson said the community engagement was being undertaken based on current library usage trends and data.
“Kenilworth Library usage was impacted by COVID-19 and has not bounced back to previous usage levels,” the spokesperson said.
“In 2017-18, there were 19,500 visits to the library. In 2021-2022, there were 3064 visits. In 2017–18, 10,105 items were borrowed, and in 2021-22, 5103 items were borrowed.
“Currently there are 494 members of who 100 have borrowed from the Kenilworth Library in the last three months.”
But community members agreed the library’s reduced opening hours of 20 hours a week, could have an impact on usage and membership numbers.
SCN asked council how it would communicate its plans to people with a digital survey only, to those that don’t have access to the internet, a smart phone or computer.
Council responded, saying the library had undertaken a series of street pop-ups in the main street of Kenilworth.
“A paper-based survey is also available in the Kenilworth Library during current opening hours,” the spokesperson said.
“We are also doing a letter box drop this week to the community of the survey (approximately 1700 local addresses).”
Kenilworth Museum president Lenore Meldrum echoed Mr Lee’s sentiments, saying the community would feel a sense of abandonment if the library were to close for good.
But Ms Meldrum added she was prepared to give the council the benefit of the doubt.
“I find it difficult to believe that benevolent council would treat its citizens so harshly as to strip them of a community service that facilitates good community relationships,” she said.
“It encourages children to read and comforts our elderly through personal interactions at a neutral meeting place – and we have very few in our township.
“School holidays increase our population by thousands and a library can make a holidaying parent’s life much easier, and the council is considering taking it away, shame on them.”
She urged community members to take the online survey and “Speak up now”.
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