Annual Budget and Strategic Plan

Finding My Place project to be expanded in 08/09

At the Board meeting on Thursday night the Annual Budget 08/09 and Strategic Plan 08/12 were adopted.

The aim of the 08/09 budget is to

• increase collection funding to achieve a 6 year depreciation rate over the next 5 years


• achieve the outcomes that have been identified in the Strategic Plan and the Service Frameworks

The overall budget increase for the library service is 4.9%. Some of the new projects that will be undertaken this year are:

• Plenty Reads project, a program to promote reading and share reading experiences, including promotion of local authors
  
• Finding My Place, an expansion of the program for at risk students in conjunction with local secondary schools


• Marketplace of ideas, a new program to introduce speakers and discussion groups to increase community capacity


• Children's library upgrades to make the spaces more attractive and vibrant
  
• Additional pcs for branches, including advanced workstations
  
• Digitising local history, especially local photographs.


• As well as these projects, an additional $42,000 will be available to purchase library books and other resources.

This budget also sees overdue charges rising by 5c to 25c a day, the first increase in 12 years. We charge overdue fees to encourage people to return their library items in a timely manner and so allow everybody the best access possible to our collections. The cost for lost library cards will also increase, to $2.50.

The Annual Budget and Strategic Plan 08 - 12 are both available on the library's homepage.

Let us know what you would like in your local library, we'd love to hear from you.

Children's concept Mill Park Library