2015-06-23 Infrastructure & Services Committee Agenda

INFRASTRUCTURE & SERVICES COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                 23 JUNE 2015


 Library Loans
                         3rd Quarter       3rd Quarter
 Facility                      13/14             14/15      Change
 Noosaville Library          104,183            99,326       -4.66%
 Cooroy Library               41,945            37,292      -11.09%
 Mobile Library               13,201             9,445      -28.45%
 Grand Total                 159,329           146,063       -8.32%

The Library collection currently holds 93,178 items. Lending of physical library items has
decreased considerably with an overall reduction of 13,266 items being lent in the Jan – March
2015 quarter compared to the same quarter in 2014. The reduction is due to the mobile library
being out of service, a shift to online e-resource usage and the impact of the downsized
collection which occurred in March/April 2014 following the separation of the Noosa collection
from Sunshine Coast.

There is an increasing demand for digital library services such as e-books and e-magazines. For
example, our e-book service, Wheelers, was introduced in July 2014. Its usage has steadily
increased and now averages 250 loans per month from a collection of 800 items. The library
service has just introduced a third ebook platform, BorrowBox, which provides a better range of
e-books and e-audiobooks.

Reaching existing and new library members in a challenge particularly as many library members
continue to receive Sunshine Coast Libraries promotional material which causes confusion.
Noosa Libraries however are receiving good coverage in local news media and maintaining a
strong social media presence. New social media platform, Instagram, is proving to be a
successful engagement and promotional platform, particularly with younger audiences, with 570
followers joined since the February launch.

Attendance at workshops and events remains high with 3,221 people attending a library program
in the Jan – Mar 2015 quarter. The program aims to meet community and corporate priorities and
supports the intellectual, educational and creative development across the region. Technology,
sustainable living and small business support remain very popular.

3.    People

The current fulltime staffing equivalence for Libraries is 23.94 permanent establishment staff plus
an FTE of 1.4 in casual staffing. In addition they are supported by the two staff in Libraries &
Galleries management.

The ongoing vacancy in the Branch Librarian role is requiring other senior staff to manage dual
workloads and concentrate on day-to-day operational issues. This is delaying some larger pieces
of work.

Succession planning in key professional roles is a significant issue with a number of key
personnel having already retired or approaching retirement. To assist in developing future
leaders two staff were successful in being awarded places in State Library of Queensland’s
Library Leadership 2015 training program.

Volunteers are an important part of libraries’ service delivery and there are currently 227 active
volunteers working within Noosaville and Cooroy Libraries, undertaking a broad range of duties.




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