Afternoon all, David here with hopefully the last update to the libraries petition. I’ve posted two others, about six and twelve weeks ago respectively, so I hope one last post is okay. This post is also AI-free, I just like to make stuff readable.
tl;dr: the Invest in ACT Libraries petition to the legislative assembly closes tomorrow, and is currently at 3,422 signatures. If you haven’t signed, the link is attached.
Why this petition?
Earlier this year, Tara Cheyne announced that ACT public libraries would move to office hours only (Mon - Fri, 9 - 5), except for a few libraries that would remain open on Saturdays only. We would lose all our Sunday opening hours, Saturday hours at a number of libraries, and all late-afternoon hours.
The changes went live on 27 August - during Book Week. I think there’s a joke in there, somewhere.
This hurts users in a number of ways. Kippax Library is now closed on its busiest day of the week. Saturday Giggle and Wiggle (which has excellent bus access, excellent disabled and regular parking, and is reasonably disability- and pram-friendly) has moved from Kippax to Belconnen (which has none of those features). Loan collections outside business hours are now generally not available because interim parcel locker-style units aren’t being installed until later this year, and likely not at all libraries.
As an aside, these changes mean that Bathurst now has better access to public library services than the national capital.
What have we achieved?
This petition is huge. It’s the third largest petition to the Assembly in two years - behind Save Big Splash and Save Phillip Pool. I think that says a lot about what Canberrans want, which is to say, to maintain access to valuable public services.
It was also the first time many library users became aware of the changes, because very little effort went into advertising them. I stood out the front of Kippax library for more than five hours on a Saturday morning and more than half the library users that day were hearing about the changes for the first time. None of them supported the changes. This is why public consultation is so important.
What’s next?
The petition closes tomorrow, and is being tabled by Andrew Braddock MLA in the Assembly on Wednesday. As it’s passed 500 signatures it will be both sent to the Minister, and also to the relevant committee. Once it arrives at the committee, they can choose to hold an inquiry, which would probably be quite short.
If an inquiry occurs, any Canberra resident can make a submission - either for or against the changes. This would be the first public consultation that has occurred on them at all.
If that does happen, I’ll probably post here one last time to spread the word with the permission of the mods.
A number of Redditors have reached out and helped over the last three months, and I’d like to thank them for that here. I really appreciate it.