Council takes out top state library awards

For two consecutive years, Mackay Regional Council’s libraries have booked up some prestigious state awards. In 2007, they took out the Queensland Public Library Association (QPLA) Public Library of the Year award, followed by the 2008 QPLA Library Achievement of the Year.

Library Services Manager Jan Kilbourne described these wins as “an exceptional achievement for a regional library service”.

“Much of the success is due to the ingenuity of staff, who are constantly finding new ways to encourage community engagement at our libraries,” she said.

The Public Library of the Year award recognised the libraries’ commitment to servicing the community, creating programs that can be emulated by other libraries and catering to all demographics. The following are just some of the key projects the libraries were recognised for:

• The creation of five information packs called ‘History Bits
  in Kits’, which were designed to satisfy the growing demand
  for local history information by students and teachers.
• The libraries now offer their information brochures in
  Thai, Spanish, simplified Chinese, Tagalog, Hindi and Sinhalese to cater for the large number of people from
  these cultural backgrounds who live in the region.
• Many Cultural Storytime sessions are also held (in
  collaboration with the Local Area Multicultural
  Partnership) to attract different cultures into the library
  with multicultural stories.
• The annual Food for Fines amnesty has proven to be
  a fantastic way to encourage members with outstanding
  fines back to the library. In exchange for the donation of non
  perishable food items, library members can have their
  overdue fines waived. These donations, which usually
  yield about $4,000 worth of goods, are then given to a local
  charity.

Mackay Regional Council CEO Peter Franks said the libraries constantly explore new ways to diversify what they offer the community.

“Council provides a home library service to 200 people and regularly holds educational activities and classes for senior citizens and young people,” he said. “They also make it their business to implement fresh, inventive ways to increase membership. Utterfusion – the program that scored the libraries the 2008 QPLA Library Achievement of the Year award – is one such example.”

Utterfusion was originally the brainchild of 4CRM Community Radio presenter Leanne Simpson. The project began as a weekly radio program called ‘Who Wrote That?’, and featured interviews with local writers. The interviews were then collated and put together to make a CD called, ‘Who Wrote That? Unplugged! In the Beginning’, and a booklet titled ‘Why Creative Write’ was written about the authors.

The project culminated with Utterfusion – a day of poetry, storytelling, singing and entertainment held at Mackay City Library. The event brought together authors and members of key writing, cinematic and choral groups in the area.

This project was made possible courtesy of funding from the Regional Arts Development Fund (a partnership program between the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland and Local Government to support arts and cultural development) and the Department of Education, Science and Training.

Jan Kilbourne said Mackay Regional Council’s libraries are not just focused on the everyday lending of books.

“Our goal is to create a community hub – a place that’s warm, inviting and safe,” she said. “People use our libraries to read the paper, play cards, meet friends and look for jobs. We believe it is the promise of social interaction and a friendly, helpful atmosphere that draws people into our libraries, so we are constantly finding new ways to interact with the community and welcome them into our facility.”

This notion is solidly backed up with some impressive figures. Last financial year, Council’s libraries attracted more than 5,500 new members.

Following amalgamations in March 2008, Mobile Library membership soared by 300 in two weeks, as it increased its coverage by visiting 24 locations around the region.