2021-02-09 Services & Organisation Committee Meeting Agenda

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                        9 FEBRUARY 2021


The vehicle operates independently with 4G technology and a generator allowing it to visit
hinterland towns and schools and to participate in one-off events such as the Noosa Show. Free
Wi-Fi, printing facilities, internet access and two word processing computers are available.
Two Mobile Library Operators, who have a strong background in library customer service and
hold Heavy Combination licences, operate the Mobile Library service, with additional staff
providing support at high activity stops.

    The capital price for acquisition of the current vehicle in 2006 was $650,000.
    The current (2019) annual operating budget is $329,274 - 9.1% of annual operating budget
      for Noosa Library Service.
    $138,000 of the annual operating budget is required for fleet costs which includes fuel, oil,
      tyres, maintenance, repairs, registration, insurance and TMR Certificates of Inspection.

3.    Mobile Library Usage

The Mobile Library visits 8 stops across the Noosa Shire on a weekly schedule, with Pomona
and Peregian being the two busiest Mobile Library stops. In the 2019 calendar year, library
members visited these stops more than 27,000 times, averaging 532 visits per week. They also
borrowed over 34,000 items, averaging 674 items loans per week.

When compared to the overall library service, the Mobile Library service usage equates to 8% of
the loans and 9% visitation. The annual cost per visit for the Mobile Library Service is $12.13
compared to $10.74 for Cooroy Library and $6.04 for Noosaville Library.




Figure 1: Comparison loan and visit statistics of Mobile library and library branches

There are approximately 2,600 Mobile Library members, with 1,628 actively borrowing items over
the last 12 months. Out of these 2,600 members, 322 Mobile Library members exclusively use
the Mobile Library service and have not visited Noosaville or Cooroy Libraries over the preceding
12 months. More than half of the Mobile Library members (1,400) also access the library’s e-
collections.

Usage statistics show a gradual decrease in usage over the last ten years. There has been a
46% decrease in library items being borrowed and 49% decrease in people visiting the service
and the decline can be seen across all of the eight Mobile Library stops.

The opening of Cooroy Library has been identified as having a key impact in the reduction in
service usage.




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