It was received during the October council on Tuesday.
A staff report for the meeting recommended chief executive Alex Parmley respond directly given it was "an operational matter".
Since July, the previous Waitaki head librarian and children’s librarians have departed since the reorganisation began.
Retired Waitaki librarian Glenys Robinson spearheaded the petition on behalf of the lobby group Leave Our Libraries Alone (Lola).
Under the transformation model, libraries at Oamaru, Palmerston and a yet-to-be finalised Waitaki Valley location would become "community hubs".
Services such as dog registration would be delivered at those sites with other council staff alongside librarians.
The Lola petition called for the full organisational design of the transformation to be released.
Ms Robinson made a simple plea as she addressed councillors on Tuesday.
"Please let us know, as the public, what is going to happen."
She had retired a year ago, leaving a cohesive and professional team, but it was being undermined at a time of falling literacy.
"Now is a terrible time to under-value the worth of qualified experienced librarians," she said.
"We ask council to protect and grow public library services across the Waitaki district in consultation with the residents," Ms Robinson said.
Petition signatories were particularly worried at the negative impact of the reorganisation on library staffing and services.
"The lack of specific details regarding library positions is causing concern among regular library users."
Members of the public had also expressed fear at signing the petition given their close connections to those working at the council.
"This council is creating fear among the population [it] was elected to serve," Ms Robinson said.
A staff report said the reorganisation was legitimately "an operational matter".
"Local government organisations are not required to consult with the public or ratepayers specifically on organisational restructures or redesigns," governance and policy adviser Anislee Hooper said.
The changes were "primarily internal matters" aimed at ensuring efficient service delivery.
However, the transformation process was about "opening up, not closing down", the report said.
Cr Jim Hopkins said he found the concern about alleged fewer dedicated staff puzzling.
"You talk of the range of things the library staff have already done of their own accord.
"Given that staff there are already doing all these things of their own volition, why would it be likely that a few more things would lead to further resignations?"
Ms Robinson said she believed the skills offered by some qualified staff was being downgraded.
Cr Hopkins suggested that might be an issue if some were asked to undertake tasks they "didn’t want to do".
"The staff there have already chosen to do things to make it more of a community hub," he said.
Waitaki District Mayor Gary Kircher said the transformation vision was to "deliver better, to deliver more".
"Libraries are one part of that."
However, it was up to the chief executive to execute, Mr Kircher said.
Mr Parmley said the aim was for services "that cost a lot less money".
"We want to do that in a way that is efficient."
He cited the new Ashburton library model with a council service desk beside library services as an example.
Mr Parmley noted that in Oamaru the council already operated five different public-facing points in Thames St.
"We haven’t said at any point that the community are clambering for a one-stop shop."
Cr Jim Thompson said councillors had to ensure ratepayer money was spent wisely, "and libraries, if I was to take an adversorial position, are heavily subsidised by people that don’t use them".
But it was not a case of council wanting to "decimate the social fabric" of the Waitaki community, he said.
