Fretful rustle greets reading room plans

A decades-old institution of catching up with news from home and abroad in the tranquillity of the newspaper reading room at the Auckland Central Library is under threat from the cost-cutting axe.

A proposal is going to the Auckland City Council today to close the second-floor room from January next year and move newspapers to the busy ground floor of the library.

Moving the room, where a staff member brings library users international newspapers, to a greater self-service area on the ground floor is expected to shave $17,000 from the council's $20.3 million library budget.

One downside is "newspapers will deteriorate in quality faster and go missing as they do not have security tags", according to a budget report.

The proposal has surprised users of the reading room, including local Green MP Keith Locke and is opposed by the councillor responsible for libraries, Dr Cathy Casey.

Rod MacLeod, who drops in most days to read the Guardian, said the room was well used and needed the space for reading newspapers.

"They can't replicate this downstairs in an open area. It is a pretty traditional part of the library and it should be maintained," he said.

Pianist Merrilyn Hope, a regular visitor to the room since moving to Queen St two months ago, said she hoped the council would not close the "marvellous facility". Another user, who did not wish to be named, said: "This is the ideal format. I don't know how they can improve on it."

Library group manager Allison Dobbie said proposed changes to the layout of the central library provided the opportunity to display the most recent newspapers on the ground floor where more people would see them and have access to them.

Older newspapers would be available at the Auckland Research Centre on the second floor, beside the current newspaper room.

"We don't foresee any reduction in the service levels at all or the service quality.

"It's just a difference in the way it is delivered. Very few public libraries these days put their newspapers in a separate room so far away from the main door," Allison Dobbie said.

Keith Locke said there were good reasons to keep the reading room - it was a great resource, easily accessible and customer friendly.

Dr Casey said the council should not cut well-used services such as the reading room. She also opposed cuts to the information service desk and interloan service at the library.

Two years ago, an outcry forced a council to back down from plans to end mobile library visits to 18 rest homes and 31 pensioner villages.