Would You Pay for Library Services?

Last Friday The Book Show on Radio National broadcast a program that examined the role of public libraries in a climate of shrinking state government funding. The program, entitled The Future of Public Libraries, explored the idea that,

Public libraries in New South Wales have threatened to charge for services if they don't get more funding. Library users continually say they want more books and more book-based programs, but would a fee-for-service be too high a price to pay for improved resources?

You can listen to the whole program on the Book Show web site, however, the conclusions drawn were that,

The majority view has been that libraries are an incredibly valuable community resource, that they deserve better treatment from government - and that forcing library users to pay for services would be a retrograde step.

We think we provide a valuable community service and we'd love to be able to provide all our services for free but in this environment of ever decreasing funding we'd love to know where our community think we should be focusing our attention and budget.

What services should remain untouched? Are there things we should be doing that we aren't? Are there any services libraries provide for which a charge would be acceptable?

Let me make this clear - we are not proposing to charge for services that we currently provide for free. Indeed the 2008/2009 schedule of fees and charges has been sent to Council and will soon be available on the Sutherland Shire Council web site.

Rather, we want YOU to tell US what you think a public library should provide for the community. Leave your reaction and have your say.