The NSW arts minister has written to many newspapers across NSW in recent days about the library funding campaign being coordinated by our association.
We acknowledge the additional capital funding provided by the NSW government in the 2014-15 budget, and for coming years.
What needs to be made clear is that the funding under this increase is available by application to the grant program, and is not universally spread across the state.
While this funding will provide enhanced facilities for those councils which are successful, other issues remain.
The minister fails to acknowledge that NSW government recurrent funding to support the public library network is the lowest percentage of total budget of any state, and about half of that provided in Victoria and Queensland, the two most comparable networks.
This is the important point, not quibbling about dollar figures, and average subsidies. As we said to the minister just a few weeks ago, it’s fine to build great infrastructure, but if you don’t have the resources or the staff to make it work, then it is a pointless exercise.
The Library Act, which reaches its 75th anniversary in four weeks’ time, always presumed a partnership between local government and the state of NSW in the provision of public library services.
Local government has done the heavy lifting for the last decade and more, and now has to make hard decisions about the level of service which can be provided.
If opening hours are reduced, branches closed, or mobile library stops removed, it will be because funding pressures on councils have become too great. For a modest increase in recurrent funding, the Minister can prevent this.
Over 60,000 NSW residents have signed in support of this proposition. Minister Grant must listen to the community – library lovers vote too!
Crs Graham Smith and Veronique Marchandeau, NSW Public Libraries Association
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