Last week was library and information week!

Here’s a story from the Sutherland Shire Leader. Last week the rest of the Shire were celebrating their libraries. This week Bundeena’s library is to close.

Libraries engage young
01 Jun, 2010 02:48 PM
SUTHERLAND Shire children joined thousands of others across the country in a national simultaneous reading of Little White Dogs Can’t Jump last week.

As part of Library and Information Week (May 24 to 30) celebrations, 50 children listened as children’s librarian Bernadette Forshaw read the book while Sue Sturgess acted out the part of the little white dog.

The theme was Access All Areas and Sutherland Library hosted activities throughout the week, including a behind-the-scenes tour, annual book sale and an author talk by Sutherland’s Constance Fairlight, who wrote Creating the Life You Truly Desire.

The library raised $17,000 from the book sale, the second highest amount in its history, with the money to be spent on future activities and projects.

Library and Information Week is organised by the Australian Library and Information Association to encourage people who would not normally visit a library to drop in.

The association’s executive director Sue Hutley said libraries were a place to access information, share ideas, connect with the community, learn new things and be entertained all for free.

http://www.theleader.com.au/news/local/news/general/libraries-engage-young/1846142.aspx

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The great Bundeena Library heist

After more than 35 years’ operation, Bundeena and Maianbar’s Shire Library service has been stolen from under our noses.

On May 31 Sutherland Shire Council voted to withdraw the service. There was no consultation with the community, no discussion, no compromise.

It was railroaded through: the ratepayers and library users of Bundeena have been treated as fools.

And this is despite the fact we have a brand-new $750,000 library building near completion that was designed and sited expressly to accommodate our Shire Library service alongside our school service – as it has done for the past 35 years.

Council has come up with plenty of flimsy reasons why this vital service should be canned, but we all know there is just one reason – they want to save a measly $30,000 a year and are happy to rip this vital service from the heart of our community to do it.

Let’s get that in perspective: $30,000 is less than ten per cent of the annual salary of the general manager of Sutherland Shire Council (he earns a handy $314,000 a year).

So what can you do to stop this travesty?

First up, ring and write to your local councillors today, espectfully and politely pointing out that this is not on and that they need to rescind the council decision immediately and consult with our community. We suggest ringing their mobile numbers for a chat. They are our representatives and it’s time they listened to us.

Come along to a special library fun morning and mass sign-on at Bundeena Public Library on Saturday June 5 at 9.45am. We’ll have more details on this in the next day or so but it is vital as many people get there as possible to show their support. 

Get to know the facts about your library service and talk to your neighbours and anyone else to let them know what is going on.

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