City of Canning focuses on transitioning to learning and engagement amid State Govt’s proposed library overhaul

THE State Government’s proposed overhaul of public libraries aims to modernise by offering a single card access to all libraries and new models to ensure regional and remote libraries have equal access.

The City of Canning is also focussed on transitioning to a learning and engagement model with ukulele classes, robotics and kids coding, and English conversation classes on the cards.

It has four branches with a combined physical stock of about 150,000 items to which there has been very little change since 2006.

Acting chief executive Garry Adams said there was strong support for single-card access.

“With many metropolitan library systems moving to a new Library Management System (LMS) in the past few years – Canning in 2017 – a single state-wide LMS may not be economically viable, but the opportunity to develop and discovery layer that would integrate with current systems would be of great value,” he said.

The proposed overhaul, released in a background paper and strategy last week, outlines five priority actions over the next four years.

The background paper and strategy are intended as a consultation tool to establish a shared vision for public library development in WA.

Electronic copies of the background paper and strategy, together with a survey to collect feedback, are available at https://www.slwa.wa.gov.au/about-us/corporate/public-libraries-partnership.

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