Library reply

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 14, Issue 688, 27 May 1997, Page 2

Library reply

The following is a reply to the letter from Jean Densem Chenier (page 4) from RDC acting CEO Chris Ryan: Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the issues raised by the former Council Library Manager. The letter touches.on employment-related matters which the Privacy Act 1993, quite rightly prevents me from responding to in this forum. The only comment I can make is to correct the impression created by Jean that the position of library manager was eliminated by management as some staff-cutting or cost saving exercise. That most certainly was not the case. The Ruapehu District libraries do request material, firstly from the National Library and then from any other library which will lend to Ruapehu at no cost. This does not mean that there are no costs of any sort to the Ruapehu ratepayer when books are interloaned. The recent increase is to cover the cost of staff time and postage in returning the book to the owner library. These are additional -costs' and it is unreasonable to expect to interloan a book for exactly the same cost as a book which is taken . from the library shelf. Postage, by way of example, is a significant cost of library operation. In the month of April, the cost of postage for the three district libraries was $388, at least 90% of that cost was incurred for interloans . The postage cost for returning a book to the owner library is at least $2.80, if a special protective envelope is used, there is an additional cost of $3.20. The issue here is one of recovering these additional costs of providing this particular service. It does not amount to a full review of Council' s funding policies as they relate to the district libraries. In the 1997/98 Draft Annual Plan, the annual cost to theproposed expenditure budget for the operation of the district libraries will reduce by $19,000 over the previous year, and the portion of that budget devoted to the purchase of books will increase from $27,000 to $36,000 per annum to augment the collection to the benefit of our many library users. We have identified that the previous purchasing strategies and budget did not meet the needs of our customers. The unanimous advice of Council' s library staff, based on customer feedback, was to increase funding for this area.

Chris

Ryan,

acting chief executive, Ruapehu District Council