MEDIA RELEASE

10 October 2003

Improved routes for city’s mobile library

In a bid to reach more of the city’s elderly residents, Auckland City’s mobile library service plans to improve its routes to include 32 new stops.

A review of the mobile service’s current routes revealed that more people would benefit from the service if the following changes were made:
- the frequency of most of the weekly stops was changed to fortnightly
- all existing fortnightly stops continued with minimal changes
- the five stops where usage was poor were eliminated
- the total number of stops was increased from 52 to 83.

Chairperson of Auckland City’s Community Services Committee, Councillor Graeme Mulholland says the new routes and timetables will give greater coverage of the Auckland city area including stops in some areas not previously visited.

“The research indicated that there was little demand from the wider community for the service. The service and collections will therefore continue to target Auckland city residents aged over 55 years old,” he says.

The new stops are close to facilities frequented by the city’s elderly, such as the city’s community centres, senior citizen halls and shopping centres as well as retirement villages, rest homes and pensioner housing.

Mr Mulholland says the service will be actively promoted to ensure all Auckland City library cardholders are aware of the changed routes.
Auckland City’s mobile library service came under the spotlight earlier this year when Auckland City councillors sought public submissons during the annual planning process on the service’s future. The council received 139 submissions calling for the mobile library service to remain.

The new routes will be implemented in November. All stops will be reviewed next year to check how well they are being used.

There are no additional costs associated with the improved service.

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