The Minister for the Arts has written about the library funding campaign being co-ordinated by the NSW Public Libraries Association (Your View, October 7).
We acknowledge the additional capital funding provided by the NSW government in the 2014-15 budget, and for coming years.
What needs to be made clear is that the funding under this increase is available by application to the grant program, and is not universally spread across the state.
While this funding will provide enhanced facilities for those councils which are successful, other issues remain.
The minister fails to acknowledge that recurrent funding to support the public library network is the lowest percentage of total budget of any state, and about half of that provided in Victoria and Queensland, the two most comparable networks.
As we said to the minister just a few weeks ago, it's fine to build great infrastructure, but if you don't have the resources or the staff to make it work, then it is a pointless exercise.
The Library Act, which reaches its 75th anniversary in four weeks' time, always presumed a partnership between local government and the State of NSW in the provision of public library services.
If opening hours are reduced, branches closed, or mobile library stops removed, it will be because funding pressures on councils have become too great. For a modest increase in recurrent funding, the minister can prevent this.
Graham Smith, Veronique Marchandeau, joint presidents,
NSW Public Libraries Association
