In Dunedin we spend about $12 million per year on our library services. I know that because I asked under the official information rules.
I found out a whole lot more detail, too. I received a breakdown of the costs of each library, written in a way that allows me to understand what costs are spent in what areas.
I can see what is spent on cleaning, on subscriptions and on librarians.
This is unusual for an official information request. Often it seems like councils want to withhold any information it can possibly find an excuse to withhold. Or tell the requester it will cost a lot to find out and they will be charged.
Not so our librarians. They understood what information I wanted, and found and represented it in a clear and concise manner.
What we no longer get from so-called news outlets we can get from librarians.
From an internal council viewpoint it would be invaluable for all councils to have each of the areas of expenditure shown clearly as a librarian would. That would allow councillors to understand how the costs happen and ask intelligent questions around the connection between services and expenditure.
This could lead to true consultation, where councillors talk to ratepayers about what they actually want from services.
Libraries are services which have changed radically over the years.
The University of Otago library says that book borrowings have reduced by more than 300% over the last five years. Physical borrowings have dropped from 90,000 items in 2018 to 30,000 last year.
It is likely that other libraries are impacted in a similar fashion.
However, other roles of libraries are increasing. Since over 10% of us have no home access to the internet, it is crucial that there is public provision. Without this such crucial services as banking and voting may well be inaccessible.
Libraries are used for a safe, quiet and warm space to sit and contemplate.
We use them for looking up past information from archives and checking daily newspapers. There is specialist use by those who need information which is not digitised.
Children use the library for not only book borrowing but for story time and other such activities.
Meetings are held in library rooms. They are combined with service centres for councils.
If we know why we want libraries we can focus resources on what the people want.
Decisions such as those made about the Mataura Library can occur if we don’t think about what libraries are used for.
The Mataura Library reduced its opening hours to close by 2.30pm in March this year. Groups were apparently loitering after school in the building and outside to use the free Wi-Fi.
The decision was then made in July to extend the hours to 4pm but to turn off the Wi-Fi between 3pm and 5pm.
This approach to young people and access to Wi-Fi is mind-boggling. We can only assume that these school children are not to be welcomed in the Mataura Library, and that someone thinks that the Wi-Fi provided by a ratepayer-funded council should be withheld because these youths are trying to get something for free from the council.
(The Mataura Library is also a service centre for the local council, so maybe someone who is not steeped in a library ethos came up with these ideas).
Surely if some of the users were causing a disruption inside you could shoo them outside and still have them able to use the Wi-Fi?
Having conversations about what we actually want now from our libraries would be useful, and the information about costs informs us all as to whether a service is too expensive to be justified by the benefit or not.
In the meantime, the information provided to me by the Dunedin city librarians and their financial backroom uplifted my spirits.
Perhaps journalists should go to librarian school rather than journalist school. They would then be taught to keep the provision of information sacred. They would learn to think of knowledge as completely separate from opinion.
And maybe if they then moved from reporting the news to being commentators, they would at least know what the facts were first.
PS: the Dunedin City Council publishes its official information request answers, and has done so since now chief executive Sandy Graham was in charge of them.
Perhaps this is because of her background as a librarian?
— Hilary Calvert is a former Otago regional councillor, MP and Dunedin city councillor.
