Otago Daily Times

Libraries to transform into hubs

THE Waitaki District Council has revealed its libraries will be transforme­d into community service centres or ‘‘hubs’’ under its planned reorganisa­tion.

Chief executive Alex Parmley said the ‘‘transforma­tion’’ would involve the role of library services broadened among other council functions to improve service to the community overall.

‘‘It is envisaged under the proposed changes that management arrangemen­ts will change for the library, as they will for nearly every part of council,’’ Mr Parmley said yesterday.

‘‘Some roles in our cultural facilities have been combined as a result of the new organisati­on design.

‘‘This was outlined in the initial document shared in May and confirmed in July.’’ However, Mr Parmley has still not publicly released a clear organisati­onal overview for the transforma­tion, despite repeated requests from the ODT.

Instead, he said the council was in the recruitmen­t phase of the process and the focus was on supporting staff at this time.

‘‘We will have a publicfaci­ng version of the organisati­onal design to share with the community and media, along with an explanatio­n of the finalised changes.

‘‘However this, will be part of the ongoing community engagement and informatio­n about projects, pilots and changes that we'll be releasing as the programme progresses.’’

That response gave no indication of any timeframe. For the past 18 months the planned reorganisa­tion was presented to the elected council and management staff as a ‘‘transforma­tion’’. Mr Parmley said that in relation to the library this would mean council staff from across the organisati­on now working at those sites to deploy their local knowledge.

This would help improve location specific service by council across the district .

‘‘It is likely there will be more staff in the library at many points going forward.’’

He said the council libraries in Oamaru and Palmerston, and a yettobe determined new Waitaki Valley location, would become community hubs.

All council staff were in May asked for feedback on the transforma­tion.

They learned on July 18 that at least 9% of the current 211 full time equivalent positions were to be redefined or disestabli­shed across all existing roles and department­s.

Staff have been told they will need to reapply for their jobs. Mr Parmley told the ODT on July 17 the council hoped to avoid any redundanci­es.

He held that line yesterday jobs were not being cut. ‘‘Transforma­tion is not about cutting but delivering things differentl­y to improve effectiven­ess and efficiency,’’ he said.

‘‘We propose to continue to develop the library as a hub. In time, there may be more staff in the library than currently.’’ Mr Parmley said ‘‘a core group’’ of librarians would remain.