A NEW library service focusing on elderly and disabled residents on Moorabool’s fringes will be operating within two months, according to the council.
As reported by the Weekly in March, residents in Ballan and other towns on Moorabool’s edge are pushing for extra library services once a mobile partnership with Ballarat Council expires on June 30.
The current service uses a prime mover and trailer, but council officers and residents noted it was in such poor condition that more than $400,000 would be needed to upgrade it.
There are six library stops in Moorabool, with up to 10 people at each stop and about 60 users in Ballan.
The Weekly understands a new library depot will be built at Ballan’s Mechanics Institute, initially opening for five hours a week.
Partitions in four rooms will be knocked down for the library, which will be next to existing Centrelink services.
Gordon, Elaine, Leigh Creek and Dunnstown will get a visiting library officer once a week and a drop off-and-ordering service, while the Bungaree General Store will gain an internet kiosk and an area for ordered books and a weekly visiting librarian.
Due to internet unreliability in Blackwood, a fortnightly van service will visit from Ballarat until the National Broadband Network is active.
The new library service will rely on recurrent funding allocated in the draft 2012-13 budget and capital works of $27,499. But councillors said this could be offset by an expected payment of $28,000 through the wind-up of the former service.
If the model is successful, the council plans to extend services to locations like Lal Lal and Yendon.
Ballan Senior Citizens Centre president Ron Callander said he was extremely pleased with the library boost.
“It’s certainly welcome news. We are all avid readers and thought we’d be left without books in the town,” he said.
“This is particularly important for the elderly, who may not be as computer literate as the younger generations, so they rely on actual books rather than e-books even more.”
The Mechanics Institute’s occupational health and safety officer, Gail Fiander, said opening hours must also be student-friendly.
“I know speaking to parents about town that they’d really like a space for their kids to work on assignments after school and on weekends,” she said.
“It’s great we’re finally getting a decision and we’re moving ahead. Residents will have services all in one place, with the Men’s Shed, library and Centrelink, it will work in really well.”
The council’s chief executive, Rob Croxford, said users would be able to access CDs, DVDs and audio books as they would from Bacchus Marsh’s Lerderderg library.
“We’re also catering for people who choose to read books on tablets, with the introduction of e-books to the library resources.”
Ballan library members are being asked to complete a survey to provide feedback on the opening hours of the new depot.
