Charging people to borrow library books 'out of touch' with rest of New Zealand

Tuesday, 5 May 2020

Two libraries in Waikato lay claim to being the only in New Zealand to charge people to borrow books from its shelves.

It's a national title the Cambridge Community Board is hoping to relinquish by lobbying the Waipā District Council to remove or reduce the book-lending fees.

But the district's mayor Jim Mylchreest said without the $170,000 raised from lending, services to the Cambridge and Te Awamutu libraries would have to be reduced or ratepayers would have to cover the deficit.

The libraries cost about $2 million to run, with an extra $350,000 spent on buying new books, each year.

**READ MORE:

* Tasman district councillors shelve call to cut 'new book' library charge

* Scrapping of annual library fee concerns residents

* More and more children's books are being borrowed**

The community board, in its submission to the council's annual plan, contests the Waipā library service is the only one in NZ still charging adults to borrow books and electronic resources.

Adults can borrow a book or an eBook for 50 cents for 21 days or a magazine for seven days at the same price.

'We note that children can borrow for free and community service card holders receive a discount,' the board said in its submission.

'We recognise that to remove borrowing fees would result in the loss of $56,928 in revenue for the (Cambridge) library service and recommend that Waipā District Council proactively compensate for this loss in revenue.'

The board met recently to go over its submission and agreed the lending fees were a deterrent for reading.

'Everybody in the district seems to be opposed to the library fees,' chairperson Sue Milner said at the audio-visual meeting.

Other libraries managed to operate by charging for DVDs and popular collections but 'everything else is free'.

'While things are going to be difficult for council [post-Covid-19], it's going to be difficult for a lot of our borrowers and I would hate to think of someone coming to the library and deciding, I can only afford one book this week.'

Board member Elise Badger said use of the district's libraries' online e-collection increased by 120 per cent when it was made free during the lockdown.

'I think it shows that once you make things free, people feel more open to utilising that service.'

Board member Jo Davies-Colley said statistics marking the Cambridge Library's use showed that since 2012 adult borrowing had significantly dropped.

'So we think maybe cost is playing a part.'

Badger said the board should be looking at bringing the Waipā library service 'up to par' with the rest of New Zealand.

'Being the only libraries in New Zealand that charge fees, seems a little bit out of touch.'

Waipā Mayor Jim Mylchreest said he understood the issue but there was no such thing as a 'free service'.

'It's a small contribution to the total cost of the libraries. It's similar to other services like pools. It covers some of the cost but by no means the large proportion of it all.'

Mylchreest said Waipā's total library operations cost about $2m a year.

'And on top of that we've got a capital expenditure of another $350,000 a year to buy new books.

'If we were to cut those [book lending fees[, we would have to make savings elsewhere by reducing the level of service or not being able to buy $350,000-worth of new books.'

He said asking book borrowers to pay was not unreasonable and contributed to about eight or nine per cent of the funds needed to run the libraries.

Rates would increase by about half a per cent, if the book lending fees were scrapped.

Mylchreest said he could not say whether a decline in book borrowing was related to the fees.

'Many years ago people were taking out about 20 to 30 books a week and probably not reading them all.

'I think there would have to be a bit more investigation into whether [fees were] impacting the ability to take out books.'

The Cambridge Community Board is also asking the council to plan for a new library for its town.

'The library is too small for a town of our size, the work space for the library staff is woefully inadequate, and so is the space for library users,' the board said.

Mylchreest agreed an extended library service was warranted but Covid-19 had thrown some doubt over when it could happen.

'Libraries are one of our most used facilities … but these things cost money and if people are not prepared to pay for it through rates, we have to look at how we get the income.'