Council to invest $60,000 in addition to State Government grants to update its library collections
Nothing beats a good book and in 2012/13 Council will invest $60,000 in addition to State Government grants to update its library collections.
Council operates libraries at Beaudesert, Boonah, North Tamborine and Canungra, in addition to its popular mobile library service which regularly visits smaller communities throughout the region.
As part of this investment, new formats will be introduced, including a beginning collection of e-books and journals, catalogue access to the Project Gutenberg collection of e-books.
Ebook readers will also be purchased for the libraries and made available for shortterm loan on a one-off basis to enable interested people to experience the technology.
“Council already provides free wi-fi access to the internet for patrons in all our libraries, including our mobile services, in addition to dedicated terminals for internet access,” Mayor John Brent said.
“Building a collection of ebooks to respond to the technology-driven change to people’s reading and research habits is simply the next step in this process.
“Libraries are evolving from book repositories into community information hubs where people can access both tradition and technology in the 21st Century.”
This year’s funding also provides for more community selections in the library collection.