Library staff member Eliz Mayes and former staff member Sue Dawson enjoy a good book at the Taradale Library.
Library staff member Eliz Mayes and former staff member Sue Dawson enjoy a good book at the Taradale Library.
Libraries are often seen as the hub of a community and, although the doors were shut during lockdown, their importance remained.
"We saw an increase in membership and a great many returning members," says Napier Libraries manager Darran Gillies.
He says that, as an industry, the libraries will be collectivelylooking at what they can do to continue to enable access. With the Taradale library up and running, including Sunday opening hours, members can access digital platforms which add real value to people's lives, Gillies says.
"We have our fantastic e-book and e-audio collection, video stream service Kanopy, as well as great new databases such as Bridget Williams Books, Critical Issues and New Zealand History."
They have also started running classes in the library again to support that access as well as Facebook live sessions and walk-in help. Gillies says the community has been very patient with the additional step of scanning the library card on arrival to support contact tracing.
"We have also decided to continue our three-month lending period as it has been so well received."
They are continuing to look at new services and adapt demand from the community, with all programmes now started up again.
"We have an online book club which is available to all members — we are one library service so all services are available to our community whichever library they use."
Keep an eye out on their Facebook page and e-newsletter for more information, he says.
"We have been enjoying seeing so many familiar faces come back over the last few weeks and we hope to see more over the coming months. If people do find it a struggle to access our service please let us know as we can offer some addition support."
