A shock closure by the Ministry of Education to a loved community asset has left the Te Puna residents who funded it dismayed.

Te Puna Community Library committee volunteers, assisted by Bethlehem Te Puna Lions members, have had to sort and pack up around 7000 books before their library building is demolished on December 16.

Library chairperson David Parker says in March 2022 the Ministry of Education announced it would renovate the leaky library building, giving three days' notice of the building closure to the Te Puna School, where the library is based.

'The Community Library members did not know about the closure until they turned up, as usual, to open the library and found it barricaded,” says David.

The library had been opening Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings, providing a JP service and community hub.

'It has been in existence for 20-plus years and provides a handy library locally for fiction, non-fiction and magazines,” says volunteer Helen Parker. 'We have had a JP in regular attendance until Covid hit. We are now faced with another obstacle with the current building about to be demolished by the ministry.

'The building was a school library, with fundraising in the community providing 60 per cent of the funds to enlarge it for the community library, and a school tech department housing cooking and a computer study centre.”

Te Puna School principal Neil Towersey says the original building was built with community funds.

'The building itself is partly community-owned therefore the liability for repairs falls on the community,” says Neil.

'The Ministry of Education had agreed to remediate the building and were happy with the original costings. But when they got into the nitty gritty and found there were big issues with drainage it went from cost viable to not viable.

'The community part is greater than we could fundraise for.”

David says at the June 2022 AGM, a new committee and chairperson were elected with the aim of reopening the library after renovations and looking at giving the library a fresh new look.

Bethlehem Te Puna Lions helping to pack up the Te Puna Community Library. Photo: supplied.

'In August the Ministry announced the cost of renovation had escalated due to drainage issues and the building would now be demolished,” says David.
'Initially there was hope the Community Library could be rehoused in a standalone school classroom but due to Ministry policy, this proposal never eventuated.”

The committee called an emergency public meeting in August where general consensus was to re-establish the library.

'Once it became clear that there was no alternative building available for the library, the committee agreed to formally wind up the Te Puna Community Library and start that process which will end with a public meeting in 2023,” says David.

'Although the Ministry of Education had condemned the building, there was no definite demolition date. Due to the uncertainty, the committee felt it was imperative to remove the library books and shelves as soon as possible.”

Helen asked people to return books on loan to the library by November 12 so they could be packed and put into storage until it was decided what to do with them. She posted a request onto Facebook asking if anyone was keen to build a free library swap stand along Te Puna Rd.

'[It's] the end of a wonderful community service due to lack of maintenance on the building by the Ministry of Education,” says Helen on Facebook.

'Thanks to all those wonderful people who fundraised for this asset, so sad to see it close for good.”

With the help of Bethlehem Te Puna Lions, the committee carried out a book cull, and packed, scanned and moved 3300 books into safe off-site storage. The shelving has also gone into storage.

David says the culled books were then packed and moved off-site prior to being distributed to various interested second-hand book shops.

'We couldn't have done it without the Lions helping us. The library also housed a number of out-of-print Maori non-fiction books which were separated out and become part of a local reference resource,” says David.

'The committee has reached out to various library organisations to try to find suitable places to distribute the books to. No New Zealand libraries were able to accommodate so many books or shelves but there is the possibility that Tonga could take them to assist with the establishment of the second Tongan Public Library.”

David says Te Puna School also expressed interest in the shelving which would see the asset stay in the local community.

Te Puna School Principal Neil Towersey says the building will be replaced by Ministry of Education with a school library but not a community space 'which is really sad and unfortunate”.

'But council is looking at working with the community to look at other community buildings in the area to accommodate a library.”

Te Puna Community Library chairperson David Parker. Photo: John Borren/SunLive.

Western Bay of Plenty District Council collects a targeted rate to assist in the provision of library services to the Te Puna community, says WBOPDC strategy and community general manager Rachael Davie. This goes to paying the Te Puna Community Library Incorporated Society, which deliver the library service.

Rachael says the library rate is $7.23 excluding GST per rating unit across, 1500 properties, and equates to about $11,000 in revenue per year.

'This is in addition to paying rates for delivery of the council district-wide library network. This arrangement appears to have been in place since the early-2000s,” says Rachael.

The Te Puna Community Library service had operated from Te Puna School, in the same building as the school library.

'We understand the library is no longer able to operate from the school building,” says Rachael.

'We contract Te Puna Community Library to deliver library services, and council's library staff have offered their support over the years to the Te Puna Library Society. We have no direct involvement in the delivery of this service.”

Rachael says there have not been discussions around providing a council-operated library service in Te Puna.

'Our support comes in the form of collecting a targeted rate to enable the local Te Puna Library Society to provide this service independently,” says Rachael.

'We currently provide fixed Library Service locations at Waihī Beach, Katikati, Ōmokoroa and Te Puke. Tauranga City Council also enables our patrons to utilise their library services, which are close to the Te Puna community. These additional libraries can be found in Tauranga, Greerton, Mount Maunganui and Pāpāmoa.”

Rachael says if Te Puna Community Library service was to wind up, development of the next Long Term Plan 2024-2034 could consider options for a future library service in Te Puna, if the community are supportive of this, or explore other options. For example, a mobile bus/van library service.

'Also, given the issues with the operation of the current library service in Te Puna, the future provision of a library service may also be included in council's community facility assessment that is currently underway with the outcomes being considered in the 2024-2034 Long Term Plan,” says Rachael.

David is calling a public meeting at 7pm on February 8, 2023 at Te Puna Memorial Hall.

'The agenda is to formally wind up the Te Puna Community Library and seek clarity about what the Te Puna community wishes to do with the library assets,” says David.