Masterton library bucks NZ trend

NEW LOOK: Sandy Green, library manager, in the newly refurbished Masterton District Library which opened again on Monday after two weeks of renovations.PHOTO/FILE

Wairarapa's central library continues to lend books at a consistent rate - despite numbers dropping off nationwide.

Masterton District Library manager Sandy Green said the issues had remained static, unlike many other libraries where issues had dropped.

"We made the decision early on to realign our budget to have more fiction books and less non-fiction books as the internet became popular," Mrs Green said.

E-books took off initially but had not had nearly as much uptake in the past six to 12 months, she said.

"People like them for travelling but they also still like coming to the library, browsing the shelves and picking out books. Plus they like that level of communication with staff that can go in to getting a book."

Patrons were increasingly using Masterton District Library for more than just borrowing books.

Mrs Green said the facility had become more of a community space.

"We run various programmes. This summer, 450 children took part in our summer reading programme ...

"Some people come in to the library for two or three hours at a time."

More and more people also used the library's computers and WiFi, she said.

"We get a lot of people coming in to do job applications, fill out Inland Revenue forms and so on."

Librarians often helped with computer-related things as a result, she said. "Staff spend a lot of time helping people fill out applications and do basic things like printing from webmail and getting images in to the best format to print."

Nationwide, there are more than 300 public libraries and 110 community libraries.

In the past financial year, more than two million members borrowed 48,000 items across the country. The number of members and borrowings were down slightly on the previous financial year.

The number of new members - 206,734 - was also slightly less than the previous year, though the number of patron visits, total library expenditure and number of items added to collections was up on 2012/2013.

Meanwhile, more than twice as many e-books were available last financial year than the year previous, and almost 500,000 more e-books were downloaded by patrons.

Public Libraries of New Zealand executive director Tim Antric said the country still had a love affair with printed books.

"There's been a huge increase in e-book usage but it's still less than four per cent of total borrowing," he said. "European markets have peaked at about 20 to 25 per cent e-book borrowing.

"I think we'll continue to see a steady increase in e-book usage but the need for printed books won't go."

People were increasingly using libraries for more than just borrowing and reading books, he said.

"There's been a 77 per cent increase in WiFi usage. That tells us New Zealanders need access to the internet when they're away from home or if they haven't got it at home."

One in five families with children did not have internet access and many schools still did not have enough computers for students, he said.NZME.