New library’s running costs likely to be $7m
Christchurch’s new $92 million central library will cost $7m a year to run and is expected to bring in just $300,000 of revenue.
Tu¯ ranga, expected to be the country’s most modern library, will open on the corner of Colombo and Gloucester streets in the next few months.
The five-storey building will be the largest library in the South Island and a third larger than the city’s former central library, which was demolished after the February 2011 earthquake.
The bulk of the new library’s operating cost ($5.3m) would be spent on employing 108 staff, Christchurch City Council libraries and information manager Carolyn Robertson said.
There has been strong demand for jobs at the library, with the council receiving more than 1000 applications for 45 library assistant roles. The former central library cost $4.3m to operate annually, but it was only 6800 square metres. The new library will be 10,500 square metres. Tu¯ ranga will also open for longer hours, including 8am to 8pm during the week.
Robertson said libraries were a ratepayer-funded investment and it was important the whole community, irrespective of income, was able to come to the library and use its resources.
She expected the library’s income to be higher than $300,000, but the estimates had been cautious because income from hiring spaces, including the 200-seat community area, had been difficult to predict.
‘‘We’re certainly hoping [revenue] will be significantly more.’’
Revenue will also come from fines and holds, printing and copying, and memory sticks.
The library will feature up to
100 computers, an innovation zone for trialling new technology,
3-D and laser printers, music, film and video-editing studios, two roof terraces and accessible balconies, a playground, a cafe and more than 175,000 books.
Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel defended the cost.
‘‘It’s a service the city provides. I don’t think the council provides library services to make money.’’
City councillor Aaron Keown said he wanted the additional cost of running Tu¯ ranga to be taken from the existing libraries budget, even if that meant spending less on suburban libraries.
The council spent $22m this financial year on its 20 libraries and a mobile service. Next year’s budget, including Tu¯ ranga, will be $26.4m.
Robertson said people were still avidly reading in the city, with its libraries issuing 4.5m items last year.