Seven branches have reopened since moving to Alert Level 2, and now Brooklyn, Khandallah and Mervyn Kemp Library in Tawa will also open their doors on Monday 25 May says Laurinda Thomas, Wellington City Council’s Libraries and Community Spaces Manager.
“All open branches will continue to follow slightly reduced hours, so we can manage the additional health and safety measures required under Alert Level 2. Our teams continue to work hard on making our new normal as smooth as possible for everyone, and we appreciate how patient and kind everyone has been.
“Magazine fans will be super excited as we had a massive amount waiting for us when we returned. They were part of the 11 bags of mail that greeted our teams, which included hundreds of newspapers from around the country!
“We also saw a huge jump in people entertaining themselves in their bubbles using the thousands of eBooks, audiobooks and movie streaming services people can access for free through their library card. Compared to last year, we issued 32% more eBooks and 27% more audiobooks, and reserves went up around 50% for both – and the issues aren’t slowing down yet.
“What we are most excited about is that we welcomed over 1,110 new members in March, which was a 300% increase compared to 2019. We relaxed the rules for lockdown so people could apply to become a member online and we could issue them a library number to login. It’s proved so popular we are not changing the process back.”
The following branches that have reopened already are Arapaki Manners Library and Service Centre, Cummings Park (Ngaio), Waitohi (Johnsonville), Karori, Kilbirnie, and Newtown, and Wadestown.
Brooklyn, Khandallah, and Mervyn Kemp Library (Tawa) will reopen on Monday 25 May.