A NEW community hub for Ballan bookworms could be approved later this year to cater for high demand.
With Moorabool Council extending its mobile library service until at least June, 2014, a report said that a comprehensive review planned for later in the year could recommend a ‘‘static library/community hub’’ for the town.
Council figures reveal that Ballan library, which reopened last year, is getting almost as many hourly visits as Bacchus Marsh’s Lerderderg library.
Ballan recorded 7234 visits between July last year and March this year – an average of 32 visits an hour, compared with Lerderderg’s 42.
The council will undertake a feasibility study into the possibility of an upgraded Ballan library service at the town’s Mechanics Institute. The council has also floated the idea of an internet kiosk in Blackwood on the back of the local rollout of the National Broadband Network.
‘‘The National Broadband Network upgrade should provide options for the delivery of library services to Blackwood, which might include the installation of an internet kiosk,’’ the council report said. ‘‘At this stage, demand for and participation in library services by the Blackwood community would not support this.’’
Earlier this year, the Weekly reported council’s mobile library service had proved to be a big success across Moorabool, with 4002 visits recorded from December to March. About 95 per cent of attendance and borrowings were recorded at Ballan library.
