Dementia services, author’s talks and children’s events are all on the chopping block for the district’s libraries if the Tasman District Council’s preferred option is not supported in its upcoming 10-Year Plan.
The council’s 10-Year Plan is open for submissions until this Sunday, and retaining the status quo for the libraries is outlined as the preferred option in its consultation document.
This means that there would be no changes to the opening hours or “current level of programming and support available”.
“This would continue to support equitable access to information, education, and literacy opportunities for the whole community,” the document states.
However, the alternative option B is laid out as cutting $500,000 per year from the district’s library resources. This would include reducing opening hours to four days a week, scrapping weekend hours, and undertaking “a substantial cutback” in events and support.
Author’s talks, film nights, children’s story times, holiday programmes, dementia services and digital support are some of the services earmarked for cancellation.
There would also be fewer new books and the possibility of unexpected library closures if staff were sick.
The consultation document outlines the negative community impact of these changes, such as reducing educational opportunities, undermining skill development and disproportionately affecting people on lower incomes.
The sole positive outcome listed is a rates reduction of $23 per ratepaying household or business per year.
Option B is a deeply concerning prospect, according to Toby Beasley, Top of the South organiser for the Public Service Association-Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi (PSA).
The PSA is the country’s largest trade union, supporting more than 95,000 people across the country, including library staff.
Toby hopes that steps will be taken to retain the full facilities, calling the Motueka Library services the “benchmark” that should be aspirational for the other Tasman libraries.
“The PSA is really in support of the Tasman District Council keeping funding the same.”
He says that the cuts would destroy the services to the public, including the outreach programmes for the elderly and for children. People rely on the library for warmth in winter, and it gives them access that some people otherwise do not have to computers and the internet, as well as assistance with technology such as paying online bills.
“Our library staff are as much an advisory service as librarians. It’s just a massive massive resource and we don’t want that cut,” he says. “We have some highly trained and highly competent individuals who, if we lost them, we would not get them back.”
The new Motueka District Library-Te Noninga Kumu was opened in 2022, with a building cost of just under $5 million, and reports since have shown a large jump in visitor numbers and engagement in the library services.
“All those metrics had gone through the roof,” Toby says. He is urging the public to make submissions to the 10-Year Plan, requesting that the council’s preferred option – the status quo – is adopted.
Submissions to the 10-Year Plan can be made online or by emailing LTP@tasman.govt.nz
Alternatively, people can complete the paper submission form attached to the consultation document at Tasman District Council offices or libraries. Submissions close on Sunday, 28 April at 4pm.
