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United we stand

20/4/2021

10 Comments

 
PictureCouncillors and special guests at the opening of the new
Waterline Library in Grantville.
By Joy Button
 
The formal opening of the new Waterline library in Grantville early this month was a very exclusive event, attended only by Bass Coast councillors and library service bureaucrats, with no community participation or even prior awareness of the event. 
 
Strangely enough, it wasn’t even held in the library but outside the Grantville Transaction Centre.
 
Cynics might say this was because the library was too small to accommodate even the dignitaries who attended that day, let alone members of the community.

Bass Coast’s Waterline community is around 184 square kilometres. It covers the area from Jam Jerrup through to Anderson and everything between: The Gurdies, Pioneer Bay, Grantville, Adams Estate, Almurta, Glen Forbes, Tenby Point, Corinella, Coronet Bay, Bass and Woolamai.
 
If you look at the scattering of the townships, it is clear why a mobile library service was introduced in 1985.  But on October 23, 2018, library users were told via email from the West Gippsland Regional Library Corporation (WGRLC ) that the service would end the following year. There was no community consultation beforehand.
 
Following a long and loud community campaign, and a petition with over 2000 signatures, the council agreed put in place a replacement library at Grantville. 
 
There was a rumour of renting a shop for the library but that did not eventuate. Instead we ended up with a former meeting room in the Grantville Transaction Centre that provides a small number of resources and a Click and Collect service for books and DVDs.
 
Naming it the “Waterline Library” is an affront to our community. While it may suit a small number of Grantville residents, it does not service the rest of the communities.
 
Unless you have a car, access to Grantville is by a very poor public transport system utilising VLine buses and a small community bus that transports residents from the townships to the Bass Highway.  There are no alternative options for those who don’t have a car. 
 
The new “library” has largely been shunned by the community since it opened its doors in March 2020. If it was a retail outlet, the proprietors would make an effort to attract more customers.  The opposite is happening with the Waterline Library. At the March council meeting, Cr Bruce Kent stated: “Use it or lose it”.   Really … not much to lose.
 
In the WGRLC budget for 2020-21 there is provision for two further libraries to be reduced to Click and Collect, namely Mirboo and Poowong.  The trend seems to be developing within the library service for soulless services with minimal content.  You order online, collect the item from an unstaffed library and process it on a self-serve machine. 
 
Gone is the community hub, the opportunity to pick up and browse the books, the opportunity to exchange a pleasant word or two with other library users. Gone also is the librarian who greets you, who has a vast knowledge of books and writers, who can point you in the right direction to answer any query.
 
A good library is a community hub, providing access not only to books, audio books, videos, CDs and services but a place where you will find people for a chat, a coffee or the opportunity to share tips or hobbies with others.
 
It’s a place where children are encouraged to visit for the range of books, comics and magazines, where activities for adults and children encourage interaction with others. 
 
It’s a place that provides a cool space in summer to escape the heat, or a warm space in winter, a hub where surplus garden produce is available for those who are experiencing a hard time. A place where no questions are asked.
 
None of these are possible in a library the size of the Waterline one.
*****
The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated the population of the Waterline community at 4527 residents in 2020. Around 38 per cent of these were aged over 60. However, the demographic is changing with more young families settling in new estates in Grantville, Corinella and Coronet Bay.
 
Despite the population growth and the increase in younger families, the council has largely overlooked our area for many years.
 
Now is the time to challenge the council and fight for the services we deserve: an improved library service, improved public transport, improved parks and a safe bike and walking track between the townships.
 
There is power in numbers and the formation of an alliance or advocacy group would ensure that council would start to listen.
 
This would not impinge on the current ratepayers’ associations but make them a force to be reckoned with.  There are issues that need to be raised in individual towns but we are also part of a wider community that covers all the Waterline townships. 
 
The COVID pandemic has made us all realise just how much we love the sense of community and participation in the place we chose to live in the Waterline. 
 
It is time to dare to dream.  Time for all townships to come together as one and to challenge the councillors and bureaucrats to give the Waterline a fair go.  

A sense of community cannot be held in the palm of the hand, but can only exist through participation and involvement.  We all love where we live and pay our fair share of rates, but this sense of community will only continue with participation and involvement from everyone – young and old.  

10 Comments
Joy Button
23/4/2021 12:51:02 pm

Thank you Catherine for your patience and understanding and creating a local place where voices can be heard.

Reply
Margaret Lee
23/4/2021 06:05:49 pm

Thank you for your story Joy. This small space is now soulless! I am quite capable of Clicking and collecting books which I do but no longer can I stop and chat at the Mobile Library that was such a part of this place. I really feel for those who have no access.
My grandchildren came last week and I decided to try to find some interesting reads for them but know....... no one there to assist and very few books to choose from so I gave up and walked away

Reply
Joy Button
23/4/2021 09:37:25 pm

Thank you Margaret and this is a great opportunity for you to send a message to Council regarding the poor service that we have been left with.

Reply
Aleta Groves
23/4/2021 06:06:01 pm

So well said Joy.
I am from Jam Jerrup and feel like the Bass coast Council is only interested in Inverloch, Wonthaggi, San Remo & Phillip Island and that the ~4500 residents of the waterlines towns don't count!

Reply
Joy Button
23/4/2021 09:40:01 pm

Thank you Aleta and I do agree although I think Jam Jerrup being at the far end of Westernport Ward is almost forgotten by Council.

Reply
Aleta
24/4/2021 11:12:44 am

Yes that is exactly how we feel in Jam Jerrup - I have even had council staff say to me "Oh you need to call Cardinia shire we don't look after that area!"

Michele
24/4/2021 08:49:51 pm

Totally agree Aleta. Jam Jerrup gets even less support than us at The Gurdies. We pay our rates, which are not cheap, and get nothing in return.

Reply
Peter Granger
24/4/2021 10:25:38 am

We are greatly indebted to Joy for persevering against impossible odds to bring BCSC to account for its profound and enduring failures on this issue. Its too convoluted to describe all the messy detail on this particular forum. Suffice to say BCSC has no interest in providing the unfashionable Waterline region a mobile or static library presence that on a PER-CAPITA basis equates to the two other BCSC ‘regions’, Inverloch/Pound Creek and Phillip Island. They really don't give a hoot, and in general this includes Westernport’s own council representatives. They generate enormous enthusiasm for the $5 million aquatic centre and $19 million library/civic centre planned for Cowes, but cry poor when it comes to a few cents for the Waterline. So, what’s the problem ? The Waterline’s population is spread between multiple small towns. If bunched into one single town, it would deter our elected representatives and bureaucrats from ‘dividing and conquering’ the region (as theso thoughtlessly did on the mobile library issue), and otherwise compel them to be more REGIONALLY aware and accountable. So, do we really have to create a Waterline super-metropolis to get a fair shake from council?
The WGRLC/BCSC terminated the mobile library service without any community consultation, and in complete secrecy (in-camera meetings). They kept it secret for a year or more. The service was portrayed as losing patronage, and failing to meet ‘industry standards’. None of this was true. The real reason was its inconvenient eligibility for a Living Library grant. Which compromised the grant eligibility of other far ‘better-represented’ library and council regions. BCSC/WGRLC resolved the grant-eligibility dilemma by simply terminating the service of the eligible party, and disingenuously promising it a ‘superior’ (static library) replacement. As it transpired this consisted of an uninspiring and inadequate click-and-collect depot, not a browsable library. More community dud than hub. It was positioned remotely from where the majority of library members resided. Without public transport access, with floor space much less than the mobile library, and carrying just a fraction of the library items.
Thus the Waterline’s regional PER-CAPITA library floor space is just 15% of Phillip Island, and 26% of Inverloch. Inverloch has a population about 40% higher than the Waterline, but per-capita library floor-space almost 400% higher. Notwithstanding Inverloch is located much closer to Wonthaggi central library.
To obtain a similar per-capita floor space to these other two Bass Coast regions, the Waterline Regional Library should be about 200 square metres, not the paltry 30 square metres BCSC delivered. As it stands, Waterline ratepayers simply cross subsidise the library services of these other regions rather than their own.There are possible solutions to the problem:
1. Have a vision, give a damn, and think regional. BCSC should commence treating the Waterline as a genuine region, not a spattering of dispersed, inconsequential small towns. Notwithstanding the region has its challenges, it is growing rapidly. So there is a need to commence planning the sort of region we prefer in 50 years. Rather than have to retrofit an unplanned mess. Developmentally, this probably necessitates trilateralising Grantville, Coronet Bay and Corinella, which will be a great challenge in itself.
2. BCSC should commit to providing the Waterline similar per capita library floor space as Phillip Island and Inverloch/Pound Creek. If not, it is just continuing to rob the Waterline region.

Reply
Joy Button
24/4/2021 03:05:39 pm

Thank you Peter.

Reply
Michele
24/4/2021 08:46:39 pm

I went to the Grantville Transaction centre the other day to pay my dog/cat registrations. When you walk in the door and wait to be served. the "library" really just looks like the staff tearoom. You can see the sink and cupboard, and the click and collect system. It it totally uninspiring and uninviting.

Reply



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