That was the latest word on recommended changes to Queenstown Lakes District library services delivered by Deputy Mayor Lyal Cocks on behalf of council chief executive Adam Feeley yesterday.
Mr Cocks was among a crowd of about 150 people who attended a public meeting called by the Protect Wanaka Library (PWL) group, which remains dissatisfied with the outcome of the Queenstown Lakes District Council organisational review.
The review has recommended reducing Wanaka Library's current 7.25 fulltime equivalent (FTE) librarians and library assistants, to one librarian, three library assistants and 0.8 FTE service centre co-ordinator jobs. Back office functions, such as ordering and cataloguing new books, would be centralised to Queenstown.
Yesterday's meeting, held at the new Presbyterian Church hall, was chaired by group committee member Prue, Lady Wallis, who said the group wanted a ''very thorough review of the review'' as it was clear the community's opinions had been either ''ignored or dismissed''.
Committee member Sue Coutts said the review had taken the Wanaka Library in the opposite direction to that sought by the community.
''We're here today because the library doesn't belong to the council, it belongs to us,'' Ms Coutts said.
''The library's just going to become a supermarket for books. [The council's] going to strip all the resources out of the Wanaka Library, it's going to take them over the hill to Queenstown, which is exactly the opposite to what we've been asking for.''
Fellow committee member Dame Sukhi Turner urged people to submit to the annual plan on the library changes and explained the submission process. Wanaka resident Kate Bariletti offered to spend next Friday based in the library helping people make submissions.
Mr Cocks said he had asked Mr Feeley to ''clarify some points'' following the review announcement on Tuesday. Mr Feeley had produced a memo, which Mr Cocks presented to the PWL committee. It stated Wanaka's QLDC service centre would not be moving into the library as was originally proposed, which was met with applause at the meeting. However, there would still be a level of general public service at the library, such as rates payments, Mr Cocks explained.
The memo said it was ''very material'' that two FTE roles had been put back into library resources in Wanaka and Queenstown as a result of the submission process.
A longer transition period for implementing the library changes - now revised until October 1 - meant the report's recommendations could still be modified, Mr Feeley wrote.
''I think the proposals are sound and will work overall, but we will continue to monitor what works well and what might need changing and adapt accordingly.
''That is not to say that at the first sign of a problem (or opposition) we will revert to the status quo, but we will, and must be willing to accept where there are better alternatives.''
However, Ms Coutts said she could not reconcile the longer implementation period with the fact library staff were required to apply for the new positions outlined in the review document by next week.
Wanaka resident Jen Fitzgerald said she had laid a complaint with the Ombudsman about the lack of community consultation over the library changes and the ''repeated refusal to take substantial community opinion into account on this library review''.
The PWL group drafted a resolution from the meeting, unanimously agreed upon by those in attendance, which it will present to the council. It asks for reconsideration of the library proposal and that any changes deemed necessary be developed in consultation with the communities involved and with specialised input.
