While a spokesperson for Armidale Regional Council said council was waiting for guidelines supporting the Renew Our Library campaign, president of Local Government NSW Linda Scott took the opportunity to talk up the program.
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“We’ve been working across the state to call on every group running in the coming State Election to fund more for libraries,” she said.
“We have an Act in NSW which commits to councils and the state government funding 50 per cent each, and currently the state government is funding very little of that.
“We’ve called on the government and the opposition for a doubling of library funding and also a more sustainable funding model into the future.”
Into the future we’re looking for sustainable funding of our libraries.
- Linda Scott
The call comes on the back of last month’s $60 million investment by the Berejiklian Government, which claimed to demonstrate the government’s support for libraries across the state.
“The Opposition have committed to doubling the funding for libraries if they’re elected in March, and the government has made a commitment in the last few weeks to also contribute a significant amount of money to libraries, which we welcome,” Ms Scott said.
“We know libraries are very valued and we can see that the Armidale library is very well used.”
Ms Scott said the commitments would take the state government’s overall funding contribution to libraries up to about 15-20 per cent.
