Page 3178 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 24 August 2005
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
discussions with members of the student representative councils. That answers Dr Foskey’s query about the kids. The young people were consulted, through visits to the schools and discussions with members of the student representative councils.
Very well-attended public meetings were conducted during the design process in 2003-04, with representatives from AC&A Architects attending those meetings, of course, and responding to the many and varied questions and concerns raised by the community in the process of finalising the building design. Public meetings continued to provide updates about progress of the building project during 2004-05.
In early 2005, this year, a public meeting was held to discuss development of the collection. During 2004-05, in planning for the revitalised library collections, the current Kippax library manager consulted extensively with schools in the west Belconnen region to ensure that the collections accurately reflected the supplementary learning materials that would be required for students to complete homework assignments. Further consultation was undertaken earlier this year with the schools to ascertain the best outcomes in the planning of future new Kippax library services to meet the needs of the west Belconnen community’s young people.
As a result, in September, when the new Kippax library has been open for the first month, in addition to the regular ACT public library programs and services such as children’s story times and children’s book week activities, there will be a host of other events in the library. These events will assist to inform the west Belconnen community about the growth of literacy, with the help of local author Jackie French; how to assist children with their homework; how to use the library’s online virtual services for information and resources; and, of course, reinforce the perception that use of the library is also fun.
There will be a series of workshops assisting people to write their own life stories, and the ACT heritage library manager will be present to enthuse the community about local Canberra history. The library will establish an Animee club for young people and continue to involve local youth in the selection of items for the library collections that they look forward to using at their local library.
The new Kippax library is a purpose-designed building. It meets the high standards for new library buildings in Australia by maximising the amount of flexible space while providing for the many special areas that are required to provide the range of services and programs offered by the ACT public library in all of its branch libraries. Flexibility of space permits the library staff to work with the community to adjust the spaces and the collections according to the changes in community directions and needs over time.
The new building meets environmentally sound standards for building design—for example, maximising the amount of natural light in the building. It provides for seating areas to encourage the community to use the library, read magazines and newspapers, and chat or browse the internet and the collections. There will be a full program of events and programs in the first month of the life of this new library to tempt community members of all ages and backgrounds to use their new library.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .