Greater Hume mayor Heather Wilton, Riverina Regional Library executive director Robert Knight, Greater Hume general manager Steven Pinnuck and year 6 students Chelsea Hall and Joshua Lieschke, both 11, check out the new Riverina mobile library, inset below. Picture: BEN EYLES
UNCERTAINTY surrounds the future of library services delivered in Towong and Indigo shires.
Four councils in NSW have withdrawn from the Upper Murray Regional Library and made successful applications to join the Riverina Regional Library.
The areas of Greater Hume, Corowa, Urana and Tumbarumba have now moved on, leaving just Indigo and Towong shires to make a decision before funding runs out on June 30.
Albury left the service in 2009 and Wodonga last year decided to also quit, claiming they were subsidising the shires.
Indigo mayor Barb Murdoch said yesterday council was investigating ways of continuing the library service.
“There are a number of options to look at, from a stand-alone service to a collaboration with a Victorian library and joining an existing regional library,” she said.
“Discussions will be held with the Victorian government about possible support.”
Towong mayor Mary Fraser, who is on the board of Upper Murray Regional Library, said the council was looking at options and was holding a workshop today to discuss possibilities.
“We are hoping Indigo will work with us but there are other options as well,” she said.
“It’s really disappointing the way its developed and losing Albury and Wodonga was a real blow.”
Riverina launched its new mobile library at Walla yesterday.
Riverina services Greater Hume, Junee, Lockhart, Temora, Tumut. Wagga, Coolamon and Cootamundra.
“It’s exciting to be here at the launch,” Greater Hume mayor Heather Wilton said.
“It visits 28 communities each fortnight and three of them weekly.
“It is wonderful to be able to bring to Walla, and the other towns across the region, the same library services that are available in larger towns.”
Riverina executive director Robert Knight said the design had been the subject of a great deal of scrutiny.
“It was our objective to provide a flexible, dynamic and accessible space that has the capacity to cater for changing usage patterns over its anticipated 15-year lifespan,” he said.
“Even though we can’t easily predict what library service provision may look like in 2028, the new mobile library has been designed with the future in mind.”