Overcoming the Tyranny of
Distance
Jan Richards
Central West Libraries
Australia
www.cwl.nsw.gov.au
A sparsely
settled country
•7, 617,930 sq
kilometres
•Population 22.7 million
•Highly urbanised nation
•Most of the population
in two widely separated
coastal regions
www.cwl.nsw.gov.au
The Models
• Standalone
• Regional
• Cooperative
Library Models in NSW (2007) John Liddle
http://www.plnsw.org.au/reports.htm
www.cwl.nsw.gov.au
Definition
• The provision of library services regionally,
that is across more than one council area.
www.cwl.nsw.gov.au
Regional Libraries
• Regional Libraries are enabled under S 12 of
the Library Act
• Currently 70 councils (68 in country NSW)
are party to s12 agreements for regional
library services (ie 46%)
• Range from 2 to 9 councils
www.cwl.nsw.gov.au
Almost half the state
www.cwl.nsw.gov.au
Characteristics
• Member Councils represented through a
committee
• Executive Council employs ‘shared’ staff.
Other staff can be employed by Executive
Council or individual councils
• Regional Library Managers report through
their Committee and through the Executive
Council.
www.cwl.nsw.gov.au
Characteristics cont …
• Executive Councils perform a range of
services which can include library
administration, collection development and
management, IT and communications,
information and reference services, program
development and support, marketing and
promotion, grant applications and capital
works support
www.cwl.nsw.gov.au
Perceived Benefits
• Economy of scale
• Regional responsibility
• Compensates for small council's
diseconomies of scale
• Employment of specialist staff
• Builds unity between staff
• Provision of mobile services
• IT and communications capabilities
www.cwl.nsw.gov.au
Perceived Concerns
•
•
•
•
Small councils lack options
Loss of local identity
Loss of autonomy
Lack of common or minimum service delivery
standards
• Threat of withdrawal
• Buildings and fittings
www.cwl.nsw.gov.au
Central West Libraries
www.cwl.nsw.gov.au
•Established 1956
•Population 81,800
•Area 15,700 sq km
www.cwl.nsw.gov.au
Our Footprint
• 5 councils, 7 libraries
–
–
–
–
–
Orange - 38,685
Cowra – 12,479
Cabonne – 12, 396
Forbes – 9,361
Blayney - 6594
• Key industries include agriculture, mining, health
services, hospitality and tourism, public sector
administration, retail and education
www.cwl.nsw.gov.au
Large, small and in-between
Orange (pop 38,685)
Manildra (pop 500)
www.cwl.nsw.gov.au
Our Libraries
• It’s a safe house where children can wait for parents
who live out of town or can change for sport or a ballet
class (Forbes)
• You meet other mums during storytime and you form
friendships (Blayney)
• I go and use the internet to help me learn the road
rules (Sudanese woman Orange)
• When my grandchildren visit they always ask to go to
the Library (Molong)
• Without the Library’s support I don’t think we would
have continued (book club member)
www.cwl.nsw.gov.au
World War I Newspaper Project
• Digitisation of CWL footprint newspapers
1914-1920
• 24/7 online access
• High value resources for researchers
• Value adds to CWL collections
• Future proofs the resource
• Supports cultural tourism
www.cwl.nsw.gov.au
Manildra memories
www.cwl.nsw.gov.au
Books on Prescription
• Books on mental health which are ‘prescribed’
by GPs and other health professionals.
• An Australian pilot
• Positions public libraries as a key contributor to
trusted health information
• Reinforces the concept of the library as a ‘safe
place’ and supports social inclusion
• Develops of new partnerships between the
public library and health sector
• Demonstrates the value of reading
www.cwl.nsw.gov.au
National Year of Reading 2012
www.cwl.nsw.gov.au
Words from the Dust
www.cwl.nsw.gov.au
Words from the Dust
•Series of 12 workshops
•Six locations – Condobolin, Forbes,
Grenfell, Cowra, Blayney, Orange
•3 hours each
•Over 2 consecutive days
•Led to establishment of reading groups
www.cwl.nsw.gov.au
www.cwl.nsw.gov.au
Feedback
‘
‘Olive is my grandmother – what a
wonderful time she had in Forbes. Words
from the Dust is a fantastic initiative – to
capture life from the past and celebrate
the experiences and give individuals such
a sense of pride. Thank you so much.’
www.cwl.nsw.gov.au
Poetry Slam
On the banks of the Lachlan
www.cwl.nsw.gov.au
interActive
• Zone wide professional development activity
• Reader development program developed in
UK and used interationally
• Participants supported by trained ‘mentors’ in
larger libraries
• Offered on-line
• Exemplar of collaboration across library
services
www.cwl.nsw.gov.au
Contact details
Jan Richards
Manager
Central West Libraries
jrichards@orange.nsw.gov.au
www.cwl.nsw.gov.au
www.cwl.nsw.gov.au