Georges River Council is set to extend the opening hours of some of its libraries.
Penshurst, Oatley and South Hurstville libraries will now be open for additional hours on a trial basis to measure usage of the recently re-opened libraries.
Councillor Warren Tegg raised a notice of motion at Tuesday's council meeting calling on the council to extend the libraries' opening hours to 5pm on weekdays and from 10am to 1pm on weekends.
"As a parent of a young child I have used the libraries a lot, and have for many years now. They are fantastic places for both learning and community building," he said at the meeting.
"What we are seeking to do here is to collect information about when people turn up and when people use the library.
"There is nothing I think any of us want less than paying our fantastic library staff to stand sentinel over an empty room.
"Everyone here I know is committed to ensuring those libraries are used to their fullest extent. In 2021... that means trying to find new ways of delivering the services people want and people use and people value.
"It's better that we are using them as community spaces rather than just quiet places where there are books."
Cr Tegg said extending the hours of the library on a trial basis would allow school-aged children to make use of the library in school hours and on weekends.
He said it would allow the council to find out how and when people would be using the local libraries.
"There is always going to be times when people want to use the library and it can't be open for a variety of reasons but if we can create a valuable resource with our libraries then we absolutely should be doing that," he said.
"All this trial is about is trying to find out exactly when those times are so we aren't paying our library staff to watch empty rooms."
Earlier this year community members called on Georges River Council to reopen Oatley and South Hurstville libraries.
These libraries reopened on March 31, 2021 with shortened operating hours.
Councillor Rita Kastanias said the libraries' hours should be made permanent, as they were prior to the outbreak of Covid-19.
These hours were 9.30am to 6pm from Monday to Friday and 10am to 4pm on Saturdays.
"These were existing services that parents used," Cr Kastanias said at the meeting.
"Parents, children and the elderly were screaming out to go to the libraries and 4pm is not enough time after school to... dash over to the library.
"I feel that the extended two hours is adequate now that restrictions have eased, and especially now that our rates are going to be raised people feel that they aren't getting value for money.
"That's why I feel they should go back to permanent hours."
Councillor Kathryn Landsberry agreed that the libraries' hours should return to their pre-Covid opening hours.
"Extending it to 5pm is a step in the right direction, but I think we'd be much better served if we did bring it back to its original closing time of 6pm," she said at the meeting.
"I am not especially against the consideration of a trial. Perhaps that is the best way to qualify those extended hours are justified, I am not sure, but I am not adverse to leaving that in."
After lengthy debate and multiple amendments, the majority of councillors agreed to support Cr Tegg's original motion that 'the opening times for Penshurst, Oatley and South Hurstville libraries be amended to close at 5pm on weekdays and Oatley and South Hurstville Libraries open 10am to 1pm on Saturdays'.
The trial for the opening hours will be extended to July 31, 2021.
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