Draft Coffs Harbour Cultural Plan 2013 - 2016 - Coffs Harbour City ...

Agenda - Ordinary Meeting 22 November 2012 - CITY SERVICES DEPARTMENT REPORTS
Attachment 3
Three measures of particular concern are:
Standard Exemplary Enhanced Baseline Coffs Hbr
Library expenditure
per capita
$ 54.93 $ 46.46 $ 41.18 $ 22.62
Expenditure on
library materials per
capita (ie books
bought)
$ 5.47 $ 4.66 $ 4.14 $ 2.67
Visits to library per
capita
6.2 5.6 5.0 3.9
Very much less than the minimum standard is spent on the library than elsewhere in NSW
and unsurprisingly people in Coffs Harbour use the library less than people others in NSW.
Given the socio-economic situation of many residents it is highly unlikely that they are
buying more books than elsewhere.
The Library also experiences significant restrictions with the size of its premises. 18 It presents
an extensive range of children’s activities including: weekly storytime sessions for
preschoolers, outreach storytime for special events and festivals, Ten Minutes a Day early
literacy program for parents, regular school holiday activities for children, Youth Week
activities and short story competitions and the Summer Reading Club for children. The
library also offers a home library service for housebound residents, a service for Book Clubs,
themed displays, and regular author talks and community information sessions.
While the physical premises are small in terms of the population of the city, it is difficult to
see how external funding providers would be persuaded to invest in new premises whilst
annual expenditure of things like books and staff fall so far below acceptable standards.
As people age and their physical capabilities change, they retire and have opportunities for
recreation, libraries can become more important in their lives. A significant proportion of
library users are already elderly and this will rise in the coming decades. As many of these
older people will live alone and may have recently moved into the region, the library seems an
obvious place to host regular group activities to support social interaction and the
opportunity to make friends. While book clubs for new elderly residents will be important,
18 The current size of the central library (including work areas) is 986 m2. State Library guidelines for
a central library commensurate with the Coffs Harbour population suggest that the appropriate size
would be between 2,400 and 2600 square metres.
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