Please Sign Our Petition Below

Photo by Stewart Nimmo used under creative copyright license CC BY-SA 4.0


Grey District Council proposes degrading the Library Service and removing qualified librarians from nearly all aspects of Library Management

If you believe that the provision of a quality library service requires appropriately qualified librarians who have input into the management of library services then please sign our petition.

Sign the petition here

As reported in the Greymouth Star 25th October 2022 - "managerial positions at .... the Grey District Library would be disestablished and replaced with supervisors". This action is part of the Grey District Council CEO's Change Proposal. In subsequent responses to letters to the editor Council CEO Paul Morris has indicated that because Council plans to construct a new library building it is not degrading library services. Although the Save Grey District Library Working Group acknowledges the need for a new library building it distinguishes between the provision of a library service and the construction of a building at some future date. Paul Morris, the Grey District Mayor and Councillors do not seem to accept this distinction, and seem to believe that a library building without qualified librarians in management positions still amounts to a library service - we do not agree with this point of view.






Individual Grey District Councillors and the Mayor may wish to correct the record by making a public statement in support of qualified library management being resourced to run the Grey District Library Service, at which time we will amend these statements to indicate which Councillors support qualified library managers for the provision of quality library services. At this point however the Mayor has made it quite clear in previous press statements that Paul Morris has her complete support for his proposals. Other Councillors as far as we can see from a search of the media  have remained silent on this matter and therefore given their tacit approval for the Mayor and CEO's stance. Again we are prepared to amend this webpage if any Councillor or the Mayor are willing to make a public statement that they are opposed to the proposal as outlined by Council CEO Paul Morris.
 
This website is the work of the Save Grey District Library Working Group. It is not associated with or endorsed by the Grey District Library or the Grey District Council. It has been established by a group of concerned Grey District citizens who are worried about the future of Library Services in the Grey District and the Council CEO's proposal to remove library management and downgrade the role of qualified librarians.