26 April 2024
Media: Radio NZ
Topic: Cancellation of Rainbow Storytime event
Enquiry
I’m a journalist with RNZ News and I’m working on a story about the cancellation of the Rainbow Story time tour.
Did you run a session on March 16th? If so it would be great to speak to someone at the library today about how it went and why it was important.
If it was cancelled it would still be interesting to speak with you.
This would be for a pre-recorded interview for News so it’s not live.
Response
We politely declined the offer and informed the reporter that the Rainbow Story Time event was cancelled in Rotorua
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Media: Radio Waatea
Topic: Emergency housing
Enquiry
Is the Mayor Tania Tapsell available to speak with Dale Husband on Radio Waatea about the continuation of at least 10 motels in Rotorua who will be licenced to accommodate emergency housing families despite assurances from that this would cease tomorrow morning at 0820am?
If not the Mayor which councillors will be available to speak with Radio Waatea?
The interview is live to air in English and about 7 minutes long on the phone.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Response
The Mayor’s office responded as follows:
Thank you for your enquiry. I’ve discussed this with Mayor Tapsell and as council has not received an application from MHUD for these consents there is not much comment we could make at this stage. If we receive an application we can consider an interview then. Mayor Tapsell has also reached out to Ministers about this.
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Media: Local Democracy Reporter
Topic: Impact of library going fines free
Enquiry
I saw a New York Times story about a Massachusetts library holding March Meowness - an initiative to get people back in the library. It's quite the cute story - show a pic of a cat and get your library fees waived.
My favourite line: One cat-less 7-year-old boy, who never returned a “Captain Underpants” book, had his library card reactivated after the staff gave him paper and crayons to sketch one. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/04/us/massachusetts-library-fines-cat-picture.html?searchResultPosition=2
I know the library is fines free for late returns but thought it would be a fun angle to look at how that has changed things etc, as well as as whether the Rotorua library might look to do something similar as an amnesty to get people borrowing books again - the story noted people who lost or damaged books wouldn't go back for needing to pay for it.
- From the info on the council website it says an increase in late returns was not anticipated after going fines free - did this eventuate as expected? How so? (comparison of the last year of lates returns vs the year before it went fines free please)
- How many books have been lost or damaged in the last five years?
- How have fines and charges sat since the clean slate in 2022?
- How did the clean slate impact on the numbers of people coming to the library? (Was it a success? How so?)
- Are fees/charges seen as barriers to the library and why is this significant for Rotorua residents?
-Would the library consider another kind of amnesty, like the cat-pic one?
From the ditching fines web page:
Potential gains for Rotorua Library in going fines-free, based on overseas and national experience include:
- Between 1000 and 5000 potential new members;
- An increase in issues of 10,000 to 50,000;
- 826 members currently blocked from services due to fines will have access to collections restored.
How did this track in reality?
Any other comment?
Can I please have a response by 10am Friday - it would also be amazing if there were any library staff happy to chat to me about why amnesties and similar are important etc, as well as get a nice wee pic to go with the story.
Response
From Rotorua Library Director Julianne Wilkinson:
Since removing fines there has been an increase in membership and items issued and a reduction in lost and overdue items, which is very pleasing. We’ve also seen a significant increase in attendance at library events and increased demand for meeting rooms and our Library to You service.
Libraries are vibrant community hubs that provide opportunities to not only access resources but also connect with others and participate in activities and events that contribute to wellbeing. Our aim is to provide an inclusive environment where everyone feels welcome.
Library membership gives Rotorua people access to an extensive range of books, videos, magazines, newspapers and toys, as well a digital membership with a huge collection of online newspapers, more than 20,000 ebooks and more than 2,400 eAudiobooks.
Fines can create a barrier for some, especially those in lower socio-economic groups who tended to be the group that previously incurred the most fines. There is international evidence showing that going fines-free increases membership and participation.
Rotorua Library followed the lead of many other New Zealand and overseas libraries in removing fines, which were originally introduced to encourage the return of books and were never intended as a revenue stream.
People are still billed for lost or damaged items and while the library hasn’t had an amnesty, our data suggests that going fines-free has had a positive effect overall.
Comparing data from the month before the library went fines free (May 2022) and February 2024: the number of individuals who owe for lost and/or (when fines were in place) overdue items dropped 35.93%, from 2519 in May 2022 (who owed for lost and/or overdue items) to 1614 in February 2024 who owed for items deemed ‘lost’ due to length of time not returned. The amount owed for a ‘lost’ item is cancelled if the item is eventually returned and is still in the same condition as when issued and has not yet been replaced by the library. If the customer hasn’t finished using the item, or reading the book before it is due, instead of just holding onto the item and getting a lost debt, we recommend renewing the item, which means you will be able to borrow the item for another loan period without the item being made lost.
An item is deemed ‘lost’ after it has been overdue for four weeks. When the library had fines, people were charged for every day an item was overdue and were then charged the replacement cost if it was never returned.
Amounts owed fluctuate constantly so the above figures are a snapshot in time.
Comparing data from Financial Year 2021/22 (the year to the end of June 2022) to Financial Year 2022/23 (the year to the end of June 2023):
- The number of active members (library card holders who have used their card in the last two years) increased 3.15% (from 14,876 in 2022 to 15,344 in 2023). PLEASE NOTE that this is a snapshot in time as it goes up and down daily with new members signing up, people moving out of Rotorua, members passing away or people choosing to no longer use the library.
- Programme attendance has increased by 30.07% (from 20,660 to 26, 873) with programmes for pre-schoolers the most popular.
- Heritage and Research Reference enquiries have increased by 130% (from 520 to 1196)
- The number of items issued has increased 5% (from 405,367 to 424,206)
- Door count has increased 33% (from 204,516 to 272,789)
- Total overall library revenue has increased 13% (from $87,791 to $99,046). Revenue comes from meeting room bookings, printing, toy library, loaning DVD’s and some magazines and reserved items (people pay $1 to reserve a new release).
- The number of new borrowers increased 39% (2907 new members in FY23, 2088 in FY22)
- Demand for the Library to You Service, which delivers books to rest homes, pre-schools and primary schools, has increased 30%
*NOTE: The reporter indicated an interest in Library to You as an image and speaking to a recipient of this service and we provided the following additional information about this service while working on facilitating arranging this.
Library to You
This service provides access to books for rest homes and schools that don’t have their own libraries and others who are unable to come to the library.
For the schools we will select books that are relevant to topics the children are currently learning about or topics that they are interested in reading. Schools from throughout our district, including rural and lakes areas like Rotoiti and Horohoro use this service.
We do fortnightly delivery to about 53 customers who can’t visit the library. This could be to their homes or rest homes.
Monthly delivery to 25 preschools around the inner city, rural and lakes districts.
Monthly delivery to multiple classes at 7 schools.
Other deliveries include to: Ngongotaha Care Village (mostly for the Memory Aid collection); School for Young Parents (a range of items from our nurturing children’s collection and other collections); Youth Justice facility (young adult and children’s books).