LIANZA welcomes future focus

The Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (LIANZA) is pleased to see the final report on the future structure of Queenstown Lakes District Council indicates that the reduction in library staff hours is not as large as originally proposed however, the reduction of qualified library staff still poses a threat to the integrity of the region’s library services.

While LIANZA is happy there have been some improvements in the total staffing numbers across the entire library service, there are still concerns about the reduction of professional qualified library staff, especially at Council management level.

LIANZA President Heather Lamond says “the disestablishment of the Shared Services Library Manager role is of particular concern and the fact that the District's Libraries could be under direct management of someone with no professional library knowledge or experience”.

“This has the potential to result in misinformed decision-making in terms of the Libraries’ future direction and strategic planning” she says.

As the professional association for libraries and librarians in New Zealand Aotearoa, LIANZA will support the affected library staff and Ms Lamond says “our thoughts are obviously with our colleagues in Queenstown Lakes as they face the stress of implementing these changes”.

LIANZA looks forward to being consulted as part of the wider "review of libraries" signalled in the full report released yesterday.

ENDS

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