Canberrans are demanding an explanation to the surging rate of unplanned closures at local libraries. Hundreds of people have signed a petition calling for answers and the attention it's received will now compel the ACT government to investigate the issue and report back.
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00:00Library books helped Caitlin Winter navigate her first pregnancy.
00:07But as her bump has grown, so have the number of closures across ACT Libraries.
00:12It's a public service that we all pay for, kind of frustrating because
00:17you're like, why is this not being consistent like the other public services?
00:21In the past six months, there have been 90 unplanned closures, including 28 so far this year.
00:28The latest was at Gungahlin just last week. The online announcement sparking frustration in the comments section.
00:34Very frustrating to turn up and see the doors locked with no warning.
00:39That's been going on for more than a year. Something has to be wrong when there are this many closures.
00:45To get answers, Caitlin started a petition calling for Libraries ACT to meet minimum guidelines
00:51set by the Australian Library and Information Association.
00:55It's been signed by more than 570 Canberrans in less than a month.
01:00It's a Belconnen Library, which has a catchment of about 100,000 in that area.
01:04ALIA recommends 64 opening hours per week and their minimum opening hours don't meet that anyway,
01:10let alone with these closures.
01:13Green's MLA Andrew Braddock says the main problem is staff shortages.
01:17So we know from the last staff survey, three out of five librarian staff are currently feeling under stress, pressured within the workplace.
01:24The ACT government has established an independent working group to investigate the issues.
01:30It says it wants to improve reliability of library services in Canberra and has promised a new strategy by the end of this year.
01:37But that has been promised before.
01:40If anything we've seen it get worse since 2018.
01:43They recommended back then that we needed to have a strategy in place to set a direction for ACT Libraries
01:48and yet here we are in 2025 and we have no further towards having that vision realised.
01:53The ACT government must respond to the petition by the middle of August.
01:58A committee also has the power to launch a formal enquiry.